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AN 



ADDRESS, 



DELIVERED AT 



T 



F I I L I 



IN MASSACHUSETTS, 



AUGUST 28, 1850 



THE TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 



OF THE 



INCORPORATION 



OF THE TOWN. 



BY NEHEMIAH CLEAVELAND. 



"So many grateful altars I would rear 

Of grassy turf, and pile up every stone 

Of lustre from the brook, in memory, 

Or monument to ages." 

Milton. 



II 



N E W - YO R K. 

PUDNEY & RUSSELL, PRINTERS. 
1851. 



f 






Certain portions of the Address here published, were, on account of its 
length, omitted in the delivery. The preparation of the appendix, and other 
causes, have delayed its appearance, but not, it is believed, without a compen- 
satory advantage. For the means of giving a likeness of Governor Bradstreet, 
now for the first time copied and published, I am indebted to Solomon Wildes, 
Esq., of Boston, and others of the Governor's descendants. I acknowledge simi- 
lar obligations to Asahel Huntington, Esq., of Salem, and to John Cleaveland, 
Esq., of New- York. Mr. C. M. Endicott lent the use of his engraved steel plate. 

Brooklyn, N. Y., Dec. 12th, 1850. 



ADDRESS. 



Welcome ! tlirice welcome, sweet summer-morning 
air, inhaled to-day nj^on tlie spot, wliere I fii'st drew tlie 
vital breatli ! Hail, lioly liglit, and all pervading warmth 
of yon glorious orb — standing now, for tlie two liun- 
dredth. time, just wliere it stood among tlie stars, two 
centuries ago ! Hail, tlioii green vale of my nativity, . 
and ye, fair surrounding liills, — with every rock, and 
mound, and pond, and stream, and aged ti'ee, and old 
cottage-home, — once so familiar, and still so grateful to 
my eye ! And you, whom I address — whether inhabit- 
ants of the town — or emigrants, revisiting your early 
home — or descendants of those who once dwelt here — 
or neighbors and spectators only, drawn hither by mo- 
tives merely curious or friendly ; I l)id you all hail ! 

Citizens of Topsiield, — from my distant home, I have 
come, at your bidding. I am not insensible, that it is 
for you, as well as to you, that I am expected to speak. 
Had I regarded it as other than a filial duty, — had I 
not felt assured that you would make all due allowance 



for its difficulties and its sliort-coinings, I sliould cer- 
tainly have been reluctant to attempt tlie task. 

Sliould the fare whicli I place before you seem 
meagre and unsatisfying, let it not therefore be as- 
cribed to any deficiency of the original material, or 
to a want of inclination on my part, to collect and 
present it in proper form. I have had, let it be re- 
membered, l)ut one short month to review the doings 
of six or seven generations, and to summon up the 
departed shades of more than two hundred years. 
No friendly committee of search, — no pioneering Felt, 
or Coffin, or Gage, accustomed to the woods, and wont 
"to dig and to delve," had traversed the ground before 
me, to clear away the dense under-growth, or to cull, 
here and there, a gem from the rubbish of ages. 

We commemorate to-day the two hundredth return 
of that year, when our town became a corporate mem- 
ber of the commonwealth. The settlement, however, as is 
well known, dates considerably farther back than 1650. 
What hardy adventurer first crossed yonder hill, or pad- 
dling up as far as this, the river Agawam, planted him- 
self upon its banks, we have, so far as I am aware, no 
means of ascertaining. Neither is the time when Eng- 
lish settlers made a beginning here, exactly known, 
though it may, doubtless, be determined very nearly. 
But before we proceed to this, there is an elder history, 
which claims, I think, a moment's consideration. 

The track of European discovery, occupancy, and pro- 
gress on this continent, is so fresh, and so clearly marked, 
that we are prone, while dwelling upon it, to forget that 



there was anything beyond. It is not easy to feel that 
America is as old as Asia — still less to l)elieve, with 
the geologist, that the White Mountains and the Alle- 
ghanies had lifted their summits to the sky, long Ijefore 
the Alj)s and the Himalaya emerged from the sea. 
We have always called this the New World, and are 
wont to tliink of it, I apprehend, as being about three 
hundred years old. And yet this wood-crowned knoll, 
upon which some of us used to play — that little plain, 
which we call "The Common" — the loftier swell beyond 
it, known as Great Hill — that scooped-out gorge by its 
side, so shady and green — those two rivulets below us, 
which steal alonor throu2:h meadows "never sere" — with 
the silver stream, into which they flow — were, doubt- 
less, all here, and prol3ably much the same as now — in 
the fer distant days of Agamemnon and of A1)raham 
Beneath what successive dynasties of semi-civilized or 
savage men the region passed — or how often it was the 
battle-ground of contesting tribes — are points that we 
shall never know. Yet, may we not consider them un- 
questional)le realities, just as much as if they had l)een 
immortalized in the narrative of Moses or the song of 
Homer ? 

It is possible that the larger part of my audience 
have never even heard of a place called She-ne-we-me-dy. 
Yet such a place there is — and long ago, it was well- 
known for hundreds of miles around, in the unwritten 
geography of the aborigines. This place, which after- 
wards took the name of Topsfield, was as definitely loca- 
ted as any township now is — though, I presume, they 
did not often trouble themselves to perambulate its 



line. It was not, as since, di^dded into fai^ms, but formed 
part of the large farm of one considerable clan. Its 
territory was owned as truly, as it is now — and by as 
good a title. It was tlie liunting-ground of Indians — 
one of tbeir game-preserves — and here, tbey bad tbeir 
deer-reeves for a thousand years, perhaps, before the 
towTi of Topsfield began to choose them. Here, too, 
they fished : 

*' River and stiller waters paid 

Their tribute to the net and spear 
Of the red ruler of the shade." 

There was no trouble about the alewives then. No 
envious dam obstructed their free passage to the sources 
of the stream ; — nor were committees needed, as in 
later times, to transport that valuable fish into Prich- 
ard's Pond, for the purpose of spawning. 

She-ne-we-me-dy belonged to the tribe of the Aga- 
wams. Their territory lay along the Atlantic coast, 
from Naumkeag Eiver to the Merrimack, — and extended 
inland to Cochickawick, now Andover. In 1638, their 
sachem, Masconnomet, conveyed by deed to John Win- 
throp, son of the Governor of Massachusetts, all his 
right to the land then within the bounds of Ipswich. 
Tliis included a part of what was afterwards Topsfield. 
The consideration of this deed was twenty pounds. 
The chieftain, who surrendered, for such a pittance, his 
princely domain, became a poor dependent on the colo- 
nists, and died, and was buried, about 1658, upon 
Sagamore Hill, in Hamilton. The first settlers of this 
town doubtless considered their title good, under the 
deed to Winthrop. And yet, more thaji fifty years 



after its incoi'poration, a claim was made upon tliem by 
a grandson of Masconnomet. There is no evidence that 
it was resisted. A committee was chosen to settle with 
the claimant, and the result was a quit-claim deed, 
made and executed with all due forms of law, by 
wliich, in consideration of the sum of three pounds, in 
money paid, Samuel English, heir to Masconnomet, re- 
linquished his entire rights to all the lands of Tops- 
iield. This last statement may seem, in some degree, 
anticij^atory. But I thought it l)est, — lia^dng once be- 
gun tlie search for our title, to make a finish of it — 
and tlie evidence is such, I think, as must satisfy, not 
only the most scrupulous conscience, but the most timid 
of land-buyers. 

As a corporation, Topsfield is two hundred years old, — 
but as a settlement it is more ancient by several yeare. 
The first notice which we find of it, is contained in an 
order of the General Court, dated on the 4th of the 
7th month, 1639. By this order, certain lands lying 
near Ipswich lliver were granted foi' a village, to in- 
hal)itants of Salem. Another order, in 1643, refers to 
this of 1639. It states that, though Salem ahnie was 
mentioned, a part of the original applicants belonged 
to Ipswich, and adds that the indi^aduals last named, 
had then, for nearly two years, maintained preaching. 
The record proceeds as tbllows : "It is therefore or- 
dered that Mr. John Endicott, and the said inhabitr 
ants of Ipswich, viz. : Mr. Bradstreet, Mr. Symonds, 
Mr. Wliittingham, Mr. William Paine, Mr. Kobert 
Paine, with such others of Ipswich or Salem as they 
shall associate to themselves, sliall have liberty to 



8 



settle a village near the said river of Ipswicli," &c. 
The facts thus incidentally stated, leave little room to 
doubt that there were some settlers within these lim- 
its as early, at least, as 1635, if not before. The level 
grounds which skirt the river were undoubtedly bare 
of trees, — not only constituting the first attraction to 
the spot, but suggesting the agreeable name of New 
Meadows, which for several years the village bore. 

Whittingham and the two Paines, named in the or- 
der of Court, soon parted with their interest here. 
"Mr. Symonds," who was unquestionably Samuel Sym- 
onds, afterwards a member of the Court of Assistants, 
and Deputy Governor, a man of high consideration in 
the colony, probably retained his lands — as one of his 
daughters was the wife of Thomas Baker, an early and 
a prominent settler in this place. The other individ- 
uals mentioned in the order were truly men of renown. 
John Endicott, the leader of the colony of Massachu- 
setts Bay, its first Governor, and one of the greatest 
names in American history, received, by an order of 
Court, in 1639, a grant of five hundred and fifty acres 
in the village of New Meadows. This tract was bor- 
dered by the river, and was in the southern part of 
what is now Topsfield. Governor Endicott never re- 
sided here — but the farm just named, largely increased 
by a subsequent grant and by purchase, became, at 
length, the property of his son, Dr. Zerubbabel En- 
dicott, and from him descended to his sons Zerubba- 
bel and Benjamin, who were both inhabitants of Tops- 
field. Benjamin died without issue, as did also, in 1T8&, 



Zerubbabel the third, at wliicli time this great Endi- 
cott estate passed out of the name. ^'^ 

Of the same date and same som*ce with the Endi- 
cott grant, was one of five hundred acres to Simon 
Bradstreet. The position of this tract on the eastern 
side of the town, is well known, and a considerable 
portion of it still remains in the possession of his de- 
scendants. I am unable to say, positively, whether du- 
ring the five years which elapsed between the recep- 
tion of the grant and his removal to Andover, Gov- 
ernor Bradstreet resided in New Meadows. Such a be- 
lief has been current in the family, and I know 
nothing that contradicts it. It is a tradition to which, 
in the absence of rebutting testimony, I choose to yield 
assent. In my view, it gives additional interest to that 
pleasant hill, to re^dve, with its leafy image of more 
than two hundred years ago, that of the honored ma- 
gistrate and future governor — to imagine him retiring 
thither from the cares of state — enjoying, in his rude 
forest shelter, a happiness which the luxurious homes 
and fiiir fields of England' had not afforded — and re- 
calling, it may be, as he walked among the tall old 
trees, the cloistered shades of Cambridge and Emanuel ; 
— recalling, but not regretting them. And does it not 
lend a poetic grace to the scenery there, to fancy, as 
we surely niay, that the accomplished and cele1)rated 
Anne Bradstreet, once wooed the muse beneath its 
virgin bowers, and along the river side ? But, how- 
ever this may have l^een, the spot, as being the resi- 
dence of his son, was, doubtless, often visited by Mr. 



10 



Bradstreet, in tlie course of his long and illustrious 
career. ^^} 

A third order of the Court in reo'ard to JSTew Mead- 
ows, was passed in 1645, making such an arrangement 
in regard to rates, as would enable the settlers here 
to support a Minister of the Gospel. An Act of In- 
corporation in those days was a very simple affair. 
The Charter of our town privileges reads thus : " At 
a third session of the General Court of Election, held 
at Boston, Oct. 15, 1650: In answer to the request of 
Zaccheus Gould and William Howard, in the behalf of 
Topsfield, the Court doth grant that Topsfield shall, 
from henceforth, be a town, and have power within 
themselves to order all civil affairs, as other towns 
have." 

Obscurity has long rested upon the origin of the 
name, which was thus conferred upon this locality two 
hundred years since. With a strange forgetfulness of 
the unimaginative habits, and the almost invariable 
practice of our ancestors, in i-egard to names, it has 
commonly been regarded as a fanciful appellation, sug- 
gested by the fact, that there were some hills in the 
place. The theory is wholly untenable. Our fathers 
had abandoned England, l)ut they had not forgotten 
it, or ceased to love it. The cities, the towns, and 
the little sequestered parishes, from which they came, 
were, in name at least, carefully perj)etuated here. 

In that shire of England, from which this county 
was named, there is, four miles W. N. W. from Castle 
Hedingham, a small parish called Topesfield. To this 



11 



place, unquestionably, some of tliose wlio first occupied 
these fixrms, were wont to look hack, witli a feeling, 
fond and filial, like tliat wliich lias hrouglit to-day 
many an emigrant to this liome-gatlieriiig of ours. 
Tliis Topesfield, whose maternity, so far as we ai'e con- 
cerned, I tliink none can doul)t, is a Rectory in the 
Hundred of Hinckford. Its cliurcli is dedicated to St. 
Margai'et, and its pati'on is tlie king. At tlie hegin- 
ning of this century its population was 085. Topes- 
field, with various orthography, such as " Topsfelda, 
Topsfelde, Topsfehlam," occurs repeatedly in Doomsday 
Book, a work written in Latin, and made in the reign 
of Ed^A^ard the Second. This is a respectable anticpiity, 
— yet we are al^le to go considerably farther up. 
In the time of the Heptarchy, the whole place be- 
longed to a yellow-haired Saxon, whose name was Topa, 
or Toppa. From that time his am})le field has con- 
tinued to bear his name. " Hill-tops," forsooth ! why 
our name is, at the very least, 800 years old. 

Hear me a little farther. Fifty years ago, there was 
dug up in this same Topesfield a skeleton, ^dth various 
Roman antiquities. There were a metal vase or urn, 
with a handle ; a metallic patera, Ijossed in the centre ; 
three elegant little cups of I'ed Samian ware ; a Roman 
coin, much defaced ; and a corroded sword blade, which 
lay across the breast of the warrior. Thus is it proved 
that our mother Topesfield was an inhabited place, a 
home blessed by civilization and the arts, in the time 
of the Caesars. This is as far back in the ages as I 
shall attempt to go to<lay. ^^^ 



12 



Having now reached the period when this place, no 
longer a portion of other towns, had become a dis- 
tinct community, authoiized by law to have its own 
government and manage its own affiiirs, we might na- 
tm^ally expect to find an authentic history of its or- 
ganization aijd early proceedings. Some record of the 
kind was undoubtedly kept. The probabihty is, that a 
small and insufficient book was first used, and that in 
the course of five-and-twenty years, it had become full. 
Another book was then procured, which has come 
down to us. The first town meeting recorded in this 
volume, was held March 7, 1676. At that meeting 
the selectmen were directed to transcribe the old book 
into the new, and especially, to record the division of 
lots which had been made on the south side of the 
river. Either the first records of the town were im- 
perfect, or its agents must have regarded theii* com- 
. mission as highly discretionary. Their excerpts are ex- 
ceedingly meagre and unsatisfactory — entered, it would 
seem, as leisure permitted, on blank leaves ahead, and 
without regard to date. As all the pages were sub- 
sequently filled by the current record of the time, 
there is a portion of the book which is admirably con- 
fused. After all that was deemed important was trans- 
ferred, the old book was, perhaps, destroyed ; — it cer- 
tainly was not preserved. Could those excellent men 
have heard, by some sort of anticipation, the groans 
and sighs which their negligence has drawn, and will 
continue to di^aw, from baffled antiquarians, disapj^ointed 
genealogists, and, once an age, fi'om groping centennial 



13 



orators, tliey surely would liave been less indolent or 
less careless. 

I liave read witli sucli thorougliness, as tlie difficul- 
ties of ancient cliirograpliy, and the shortness of my 
time allowed, these annals of Topsfield, fi'om their ear- 
liest recorded transaction in 1658, down to the close 
of the revolutionary war. I shall make no unavail- 
ing endeavor to interest you by long extracts from 
town votes, or by lists of names and details of busi- 
ness. These belong to the future historian of the 
place. Let me attempt rather a brief summary — a con- 
deiLsed picture — the resulting impression left upon my 
mind, by this perusal of the names and doings of de- 
parted generations. 

New settlements, in the early days of New-England, 
were not left to spring up by chance, nor were they 
determined, as often in later times, by the lawless pro- 
ceedings of squatters and pre-emptioners. The Puritan 
colonists came to this land for a very special purpose — 
and to that jiurpose they accommodated their plans. 
Did a number of individuals desire to plant a new 
town? They obtained an order to that effect from 
the General Court. To these, mth such other freemen 
as they saw fit to admit, was consigned the govern- 
ment of the place. These granted the land in farms, 
of various sizes, until the population was deemed suf- 
ficient for the territory. At first the position of the 
houses was, to a certain extent, determined by law. 
None could be more than a hall-mile from the 
meeting-house. If the homesteads were thus made in- 



14 



sufficient for tlie support of tlieir occupants, out-lands 
more remote were added. In addition to this, exten- 
sive tracts were reserved in every townsliip, wliicli long 
continued as common property. In process of time, tlie 
amount of right pertaining to the several proprietors 
of these commons was determined under some equi- 
table rule of apportionment. To arrange and settle 
these rights, — to regulate the cutting of wood and tim- 
ber, or to restrain it in regard to those who were not 
commoners, — and to prevent encroachment by adjoining 
farms upon the territory, — were for a long time among 
the most considerable items of municipal business. The 
fii'st important entry in the Topsfield Records is the 
history of a town meeting in 1661. At that meeting 
"it was ordered," that the Selectmen should "lay out 
500 acres of land on the other side of the river, to 
remain common to perpetuity for the use of the in- 
habitants." The names of thirty commoners are ap- 
pended — and it is the earliest list of Topsfield men on 
record. Four of the number were sufficiently dignified 
in station, to wear the honorary prefix of Mr. These 
were Mr. Bradstreet, Mr. Perkins, Mr. Baker, and Mr. 
Endicott. In the same list occur the following names, 
which are still represented here by some of their de- 
scendants : Zaccheus Gould, Francis Pabody, William 
Towne, Daniel Clark, Isaac Comings, John Wilds, 
Thomas Perkins, and Robert Andrews. The names of 
Estey, Dorman, Howlet, Smith, Bates, Redington, Brown- 
ing, Stanley, CaroU, How, Bridges, and Nichols, are 
no longer to be found in the town. If any of you 
feel curious to know in what way the common lands 



15 



of Topsfield were di\dded, apportioned, trespassed upon, 
managed, and gradually disposed of, until no part re- 
mained but tlie training-field, — you will find tlie wliole 
matter in tlie Records of tlie town, and in the Proprie- 
tors' Book, long supposed to be lost, l)ut lately recov- 
ered from its tliirty years' repose in an old chest. 

In all ages, and especially in all new countries, the 
adjustment of boundaries between contiguous commu- 
nities has been a frequent and a serious source of dif- 
ficulty. From this trouble, the founders of Topsfield, 
and their immediate successors, were not exempt. With 
Rowley there appears to have been no disagreement, 
for the se2")arating line was early and permanently 
fixed. With Wenham also the limits were easily set- 
tled, but the duty of the perambulators on that side 
of the town was rather severe. The course which 
they were compelled to take, as from year to year 
they went round to renew or identify the landmarks, 
carried them through a sort of Serbonian bog, in which 
they often got sadly mired. To prevent this calamity, 
the line was finally altered by an amicable arrange- 
ment. Tlie Ipswich line was established after a short 
quarrel, but with Salem and with Boxford there was 
a long contention. Town meetings were held, com- 
mittees and attorneys were ap])oiiited, prosecutions were 
entered before the law-tribunals, and the action even 
of the General Court was repeatedly invoked and ob- 
tained. In the management of these controversies, 
Topsfield evinced no want of spirit, or of pertinacity. 
With Boxford the contest was particularly obstinate, 



16 



and may have been tinged witli that bitterness which 
characterizes civil strife. While Boxford was a part 
of Rowley, and known as Rowley Village, many of 
its inhabitants attended meeting here- — being parochi- 
ally and ecclesiastically connected with Topsfield. It 
so happened that some of these persons requested a 
dismission from this church to that of Boxford, at a 
time when these difficulties were at their height. The 
answer, in substance, was, that the letters of dismis- 
sion would be granted whenever Boxford 'should show 
a Christian spirit, and behave properly in regard to 
the boundary. I need not say that, in both these 
cases, peace and amity were at length fully restored. 
Would you like to know exactly when these wars be- 
gan — how long they raged — and in what years they 
ended ? Go search the chronicles which contain them. 

The la5dng out, and the making of private ways 
and of highways, must, of necessity, be among the 
earliest and most important objects of attention in a 
new settlement. The history of these in Topsfield, as 
they advanced from foot-paths to horse-paths, — from 
these to cart-ways,— and from the last, to carriage- 
roads ; — the slow, but certain progress which was made, 
from sloughs to causeways, and from fords to bridges, — 
might, perhaps, in many instances, be distinctly traced. 
I leave the interesting task to some patient Dryasdust, 
or indefatigable Oldbuck. 

By the bounty occasionally ofl:ered for the destruc- 
tion of wolves, we perceive that it was long before the 
wilderness, here, ceased to be a howling one. The 



17 



widow Eastey, wlio died in 1805, having, only a month 
before, just rounded out her century, had seen bears 
pass by her own door. Deer were abundant in the 
woods to a niucli Uiter period. These were deemed 
sufficiently valuable to be protected by law, and offi- 
cers were annually chosen l)y the town to enforce its 
execution. From numerous facts contained in the re- 
cords, I have been led to the opinion, which I advance, 
however, with some diffidence, that the people of Tops- 
field in those days, thought more highly of fish than 
they did of game. I allude, as you will understand, 
to the solicitude and vigilance, which was long mani- 
fested by this town, in regard to the annual migra- 
tion of alewives. This process was obstructed, as they 
thought, by mill-dams. To enforce and preserve unim- 
paired the rights of the fish and the fish-eaters, — orders 
were obtained from the General Court, and countless 
votes were passed by the toAvn. Agents were sent to 
confer with, or to prosecute the trespassers. Delegates 
were appointed to convene and consult with delegates 
from other fish-eating towns on tlie river, in regard 
to the threatening danger. To aid Nature in replen- 
ishing her diminished stock, men were occasionally ap- 
pointed to convey some of the young fry into Prichard's 
Pond. But it was all in vain. The Topsfield fisheries 
gradually declined, and are now, alas ! extinct. Seldom, 
if at all, are the present dwellers on Ipswich Piver 
permitted to regale themselves with that j^iscatory de- 
licacy, which their fiithcrs prized so highly. 

I should do injustice to those men, as well as to a 
valuable member of the Pachydermatous Family, were 

2 



18 

I to omit anotlier fact, wMch I have learned from these 
records of the past. Of all the domestic animals, I find 
mention of one only, on which the fi-eedom of the town 
was, in due form, conferred, by annual vote. I am 
bound to add, that this honorable distinction was 
coupled with the singular condition, that each individ- 
ual thus enfranchised, should wear a small yoke, and 
be adorned with a ring. 

But there were higher matters than these. That dis- 
tinctive and very important feature of Puritan New- 
England, the Board of Selectmen: — chosen, according 
to the phraseology of our earliest records, "to order 
the prudential affairs of the town," has, of course, 
always existed here. It is impossible not to mark, as we 
follow on, fi'om year to year, the entries of the clerk, 
how closely this honor and other important town offices 
were confined to a small number of influential men. 
For several generations, the Peabodys, the Goidds, the 
Redingtons, the PerMnses, the Townes, the Bakers, the 
Cummingses, and the Clarks, seem to have held them, 
as by prescriptive right. The officers annually chosen, 
and the mode of conducting town business, appear to 
have differed very little from what they are now. 
Jurymen, during the first century, were not drawn by 
lot, but were regularly elected. Tything-men, in those 
days, constituted a prominent part of the body politic. 
Each of them was a censor moriim for the time being, 
and had his allotted district. The powers of inspec- 
tion and superintendence which were committed to 
these officers, are such, evidently, as could be exerted 



19 



only among a people, liigMy primitive in manners, and 
devotedly attached to law and order. 

We must not forget tliat the idea wliicli is fnr- 
nislied us by tliis record of municipal acts and busi- 
ness, is, after all, very incomplete. Mucli tliat we would 
gladly know, is entirely unnoticed there. The alarms 
and perils of Indian warfare, — the agitations of reli- 
gious controversy, which pervaded, and, at times, shook 
the colony, — that whirlwind of superstitious frenzy, 
called the "Witchcraft Delusion," which broke out not 
five miles from this very spot, and which mvolved, in 
its fatal sweep, several Topsfield families, — the repeated 
drafts for men, which were made on all the New-Eng- 
land towns, and of which we know that ours had its 
full share, in the Indian and Fi-ench ^^-ars ; — tliese are 
matters, concerning which our town books say nothing. 
The little that we know of these tojiics and events, 
which, in their day, must have been all-absorbing, 
comes from other sources. 

I have seen no account, and have met with no tradi- 
tion, of fight or massacre within the town. But we 
know that its inhabitants, in times of Indian hostilities, 
must have partaken in the terrors which they so uni- 
versally produced. Against a foe so swift, so stealthy, 
and so revengeful, it was not possi1>le, ever, or an}^- 
where, to feel secure. Tlie colonial law of 104 5, re- 
quiring the maintenance in every place of scouts and 
guards by day, and of sentinels ])y night, was doubt- 
less obeyed here. The order of 1070, that each town 
should "scout and ward," and clear uj) the brush- wood 



20 



along the liigliways, "to prevent the skulking of the 
enemy," we may safely conclude, was not disregarded 
by Topsfield. Here, as elsewhere, the farmers carried 
weapons and ammunition, as well as tools, to the field, 
and here, doubtless, armed sentries used to walk their 
rounds about the House of God, while the people were 
assembled for his worship. I find in the Records no- 
thing that bears on this point, excepting certain votes 
respecting the watch-house. This small structure was 
probably quite near the Meeting-House, and was, doubt- 
less, during those periods of universal alarm, the scene 
of many a painful vigil. When these had passed by, 
it was used on week days, by the minister, to work 
in, while on Sunday it furnished, when the weather 
was cold, a shelter and a fire to those whose homes 
were far from the place of meeting. On the grounds 
of the estate which belonged to Dr. Dexter, and 
not far from the Newburjrport turnpike, may still be 
seen the traces of an old fortification, once the gar- 
rison house of the town. The widow Eastey, already 
named, well remembered this fortress. From the ele- 
vated farm on which she lived, and which the lich 
culture of the present owner has made "all one eme- 
rald," she had often ridden to the stockade on horse- 
back, finding her way thither through the woods by 
means of marked trees. ^^^ 

I shall mention in this connection but one thing 
more. In 1675, a Committee of the town of Topsfield 
petitioned the General Court for leave to form mili- 
tary companies, in order to protect the inhabitants 
while at their work, from attacks of the Indians. Ed- 



21 



mimd Towne, eldest son of William, tlie patriarcli of 
tliat name here, and of some thousands, elsewhere, was 
on this committee. On the 12th of Auo:ust, in the 
same year, Thomas Towne, eldest son of Edmund, was 
a meml)er of Capt. Lathrop's company, then in Hat- 
field. Whether he left it before the massacre of Bloody 
Brook, on the 13th September following, or was one 
of the very few who escaped from that fatal S230t, is 
not known. These facts, thus connecting our topic of 
Indian warfare with, at least, two Topsfield men, were 
ascertamed by one of their descendants, Mr. William 
B. Towne, of Boston. Perhaps similar zeal and perse- 
verance, on the part of others, might elicit much more 
evidence of the same sort. - 

I have mentioned that Topsfield was a sufferer in 
the witchcraft time. Two Topsfield women, Mary Eas- 
tey and Sarah Wildes, were hung. Another, Abigail 
Hobbs, was condemned to die, but received, first, a re- 
prieve, and then a pardon. I have seen a petition to 
the General Court, signed l)y John Wildes, and sup- 
posed to lie in his handwriting, asking for aid in consi- 
deration of loss incui'red through the imprisonment 
and execution of his grandmother, several years before. 
I know not w^hether it was presented. 

Mary Eastey of this place, and Rebecca Nurse of 
Salem \'illage, who was another of the \dctims, were 
daughters of William Towne, the patriarch already 
named. Their father came from the city of Bristol, 
in England, in 1630 — lived several years in Salem — 
and settled here, it is supposed, in 1652. Of all that 



22 



has come down to us from tliat appalling scene, there 
is nothing more extraordinary or affecting than the 
case of these two innocent and exemplary women. 
The excellence of Mrs. Nurse's character was so con- 
spicuous, that the Jury acquitted her. But Chief Jus- 
tice Stoughton, impelled by a hideous outcry from 
" the accusers and the afflicted," sent the Jury out to 
re-consider the matter. Again they came in, and asked 
the prisoner to explain a certain expression which she 
had used in the course of the trial. Mrs. Nurse, be- 
ing deaf, did not understand the question, and there- 
fore did not answer it satisfactorily. The Jury then 
rendered a verdict of " Guilty." The Governor, 
wishing to save her, made out a reprieve, but the 
clamors of the accusers induced him to recall it. 
Being a member of Mr. Noyes' Church, she was, on 
Sunday, taken from jail, and carried in irons to the 
meeting-house, and there formally excommunicated. She 
was executed on the 19th of July, 1692. 

The clear good sense, the sweet spirit, the sublime 
piety, and the cruel fate of Mary Eastey, have long 
commanded, and must ever command, the admiration 
and the pity of all who learn her story. I wish that 
time would allow me to recite here a petition which 
she sent to the Court before her condemnation, and 
another, addressed by her to the Court and to the 
Ministers while she was under sentence of death. Their 
simple eloquence could not fail to reach your hearts. 
Eead, my friends, read and contemplate the history 
of that dark time. Conceive what anguish must have 
wrung many Topsiield families, and what terror must 
have reigned in all of them duruig the dreadful sum- 



23 



iiier and autumn of 1692. Recall tliose scenes — not 
to tliink and speak lightly or scornfully of them and 
tlieir actors — but to remind you liow fearfully man is 
made, and to appreciate tlie goodness of that Provi- 
dence, which appointed our lot in an age of clearer 
light, of better temper, and of milder laws. ^^^ 

It was just nine years before this terrilde episode 
of the Salem Witchcraft — that is, in IGSo — that the 
alarniino: demand for a surrender of the Provincial 
Charter, under a threat of quo wm'rmdo in case of 
refusal, came over from Charles the Second. In the 
Topsheld record of a lawful town meeting, held on 
the 25th of December in that year, I find the fol- 
lowing brief but significant entry : — " We do hereby 
declare that we are utterly unAvilling to yield, either 
to a resignation of the Cliarter, or to any thing that 
shall 1)6 equivalent thereunto, whereby the foundation 
thereof should be weakened." In the following year 
the royal menace was put into execution, and the 
letters patent of Massachusetts were cancelled by a 
judgment in the Court of Chancery. To carry out 
the arljitrary measures thus Ijegun, James II., in 168G, 
sent over the notorious Edmund Andros. Nowhere 
were his tyrannical proceedings and projects so reso- 
lutely opposed from the very first, as in this County 
of Essex. That Topsfield was not a whit behind her 
sister towns, we have undoubted evidence. That, in 
common with Ipswich and Rowley, she at first re- 
sisted the unlawful demands of the new government, 
is clear from a vote passed Sept. 30, IGSY, — doubtless 
under the j^ressure of impending fine and imprison- 



24 



inent — by wliicli tlie town removed from its record, 
as " offensive to autliority," an answer wliicli liad pre- 
viously been made to the Treasurer's warrant. 

Wliat were generally tlie sentiment and feeling of 
the people here, may be conjectured fi'om another 
fiict. John Gould, the only sou of Zacheus, and, equal- 
ly with him, the Patriarch of all who rejoice in that 
name here, then the largest landowner in the town, 
and a most influential citizen, had the honor to be 
fined and imprisoned, at the instigation of the tyrant, 
for seditious language which he was said to have ut- 
tered. The fact is stated in the histories of the time, 
and the very words he spake before the company 
which he commanded, have come down to us by tra- 
dition. " If," said the brave CajDtain, " if you were all 
of my mind, you would go and mob the Governor 
out of Boston." ^^) 

In 1689, a grand and bloodless revolution had beeix 
effected in Old England, and her young daughter here 
in the West came in for a full share of its bless- 
ings. It must have been gratifying to the people of 
tliis town, to see again in the highest place of the 
Commonw:ealth, one whom they knew so well and so 
favorably as old Simon Bradstreet. On the 7th of 
May, while Sir Edmund Andros, in Boston, was ac- 
tually tasting the comforts of that prison to which he 
had sent so many good men, this town, in compli- 
ance with a call from President Bradstreet, elected 
Thomas Baker, to join, ad^dse, and consult with the 
Council of Safety, about resuming the former govern- 



9K 



ment; and in tlie June wliicli followed, said Baker 
was again directed "to act for the public good, wel- 
fore, and safety of this Colony — prohildting any act 
or thing that may have any tendency to the infringe- 
ment of our charter pri^dleges whatsoever." Such, my 
friends, . such were the intelligence and watchfulness, 
the independence and fidelity of the men who tilled 
these farms, and filled your places here, one hundred 
and sixty years ago. ■ . 

Thirty-three of the first sixty-three years of the 18th 
century, were, in New England, years of Avar. Dur- 
ing this long struggle, we know that Topsfield must 
have contributed to the pul)lic cause, its full share of 
men as well as of money. This is certain, because no 
towns were exem])t. The law was strict, and it was 
strictly enforced. It has l)een estimated that nearly 
one-third of the eflfective men in the Colony were in 
military serA^ce during the French wars. The muster 
rolls of the State archives, probably show very nearly 
what individuals went from Topsfield. I have not 
been able to examine them. The Eev. Mr. Barnard, 
of Marldehead, in his autobiography, makes honorable 
mention of a Captain Boynton, of Topsfield, who com- 
manded a company in the Red Regiment of General 
March's Brigade, during the unsuccessful attempt upon 
Port Royal in 1707. In Gage's History of Rowley, 
I find a notice of Captain Israel Da\ds, of Topsfield, 
as commanding a company in the French war. John 
Baker, whom many of us remember as the aged "Ma- 
jor," was an ofiicer in the same ser\dce. But enough, 
— ^the story of those wearisome, and often bloody cam- 



26 



paigns, so far as relates to tlie soldiers of Topsfield, 
has not come down to us. We know wlio and wliat 
they were ; and we feel as well assured that they 
were faithful and brave, as if we had seen the record 
of their virtues and deeds on the historic page, or on 
monumental brass. 

In 1*755, the removal of the French Acadians took 
place. This severe measure, the memory of which has 
lately been revived by one of our popular poets, was 
never, I believe, justified by any proof of necessity. 
The poor sufterers themselves w^ere distributed over 
the country. One family fell to the share of Tops- 
field and Middleton. The cottage w^hich they occu- 
pied was on the right of the road to Salem, and 
nearly opposite the house of Dr. Dexter. They are 
three times mentioned in the town-book, by the sim- 
ple designation of the "French family." The foreign 
name was too much, probably, for the learning of 
the town-officers. Tradition long preserved their me- 
mory, as sad, retiring, and inoffensive. Sad they might 
well be, — ^torn from their property and haj)py homes, 
— separated fi'om all their kinsfolk and countrymen, 
and cast among a people who could sympathize with 
them neither in language, nor manners, nor religion. 
Whether the gentle Evangeline, in her life-long pur- 
suit of the ever-flying Gabriel, took the " French fiim- 
ily" of Topsfield in her way, is more than I can 
tell. 

Scarcely, as you know, was the French war over, 
when the difficulties with England began. In the 



2Y 



measures and events wliicli preceded and accompanied 
the sepai'ation of these colonies from the j^arent state, 
it is not to be supposed that a place so small as this 
could be very conspicuous. But it is pertment to our 
purpose to show that Topsfield, however insignificant, 
had yet a mind and will of her own, — a spirit, as in- 
dependent and as higli, — with a determination seem- 
ingly as fixed, and as truly self-moved, as Boston itself 
could claim. , 

On the 23d of September, 1766, the town appointed 
a Committee, of which Stephen Perkins, then a leadmg 
man here, was chairman, " to draw instructions" for the 
guidance of their Representative in the General Court. 
Four days aftei'ward an able paper was presented and 
adopted. The subject-matter was a measure, then be- 
fore the Court, for remunerating Gov. Hutchinson, Se- 
cretary Oliver, and others, for damage incurred by the 
Boston riots. The town professes not to know the 
cause of the disturbances, and concedes that if the pe- 
titioners had really suffered because they were exert- 
ing themselves for the good of his majesty's subjects 
in the Pro\dnce, they were entitled to aid from the 
public fund. In any other case, the town would con- 
sider such a measure unconstitutional, and of dangei'ous 
tendency. The benevolence of the throne, in repealing 
the Stamp Act, is acknowledged with loyal gratitude — • 
and a willingness to reciprocate is announced with a 
coolness that is quite amusing — reminding one of that 
Yankee, who, as the poet has it, would 

" Shake hands with the king upon his • throne, 
And think it kindness to his majesty." 



28 



This letter of instruction concludes thus : " In case 
the sufferers shall make a23plication for it, we are 
heartily willing to give them as much as our ability 
and low circumstances will admit of, "provided we may 
do it either by subscription or by contribution, as in 
case of calamitous accidents by fire ; which we take 
to be much more agreeable to the constitution of a 
free j^eople, and the constant usage of this govern- 
ment." 

In June, 1770, I find the record of a meeting called 
to consider the grievances under which the colonies 
were laboring. The vote of the town, after recapitu- 
lating these grievances, — such as taxes, imposed without 
consent of the taxed, — armed troops quartered among 
them in time of |)eace to enforce compliance, <fec., 
goes on to say, that it was high time the community 
should resort to every constitutional method possible, 
for the redress of these evils. It commends the action 
of those merchants who had combined, and agreed not 
to import goods fi^om Great Britain, so long as such 
oppressions should continue, and concludes with the de- 
claration, that the people of Topsfield will co-operate 
with the merchants in this great ol^ject, by encour- 
aging domestic manufactures, by making their o^ii 
clothing, by abstaining from the purchase of all im- 
ported articles, and by rigidly excluding all foreign 
tea^, until a general importation shall be allowed. 
This vote was entrusted to a Committee, for the pur- 
pose of procuring the signatures of the inhabitants. 

On the 18th of May, 1773, a meeting was held to 



29 



consider and reply to a letter from the Boston Com- 
mittee of Correspondence. The vote on tins occasion 
fully re-states and re-argues the topics of the letter — 
it responds heartily to the sentiments and declarations 
of the Boston gentlemen — thanks them for their Adgi- 
lance and acti^^ty in the public cause — and affirms, 
"that this town, in particulai', will be ready, at all 
times, to join with their brethren in every legal way 
and manner, to defend the life and person of his ma- 
jesty, and the lives of our l)retliren, his majesty's 
loyal sul)jects, and in the same way to preserve and 
defend our own lawful rights, lil>erties, and j^roperty, 
even to tlie last ewtrenvkyy Tliis w^as passed, we read, 
by a great majority. At the same meeting a commit- 
tee was chosen to hold correspondence with the one in 
Boston. 

On the 20th of January, 1775, the town, in legal 
meeting, accepted a full and very decided rejiort, made 
l)y a committee of pre\dous appointment, in regard to 
the reception of the East India Company's tea. This 
paper closed with the declaration, tliat "this town 
will regard as enemies to the American Colonies, all 
merchants who shall import any tea with a duty upon 
it." It w^as then read "distinctly several times — the 
question was put whether the town would accept of 
it, and it passed in the affirmative, nem. con." 

On the 7th March, same year, the town passed a 
vote providing for the enlistment, di'ill, and pay of 
minute men. 



30 



A few days afterward tliis comparatively poor cotin- 
try town, voted to raise by subscription a donation 
for tlie poor of Boston. 

In one montli more came tlie summons to battle — 
and many, probably most of the Topsfield men, proved 
their sincerity, and showed tlieir courage, by ming- 
ling with the l^rave yeomanry of Essex and of Mid- 
dlesex in the great transactions of the 19th of April. 
But a still greater day, and more exciting scene, was 
near at hand. Conceive, if you can, sons, daughters, 
and grandchildren of those who were actors or spec- 
tators then, — ^imagine, if it be possible, you who, float- 
ing calmly along the current of our unexciting times, 
have never known what anxiety and apprehension 
really are, — ^try, I say, to realize the sensations which 
must have pervaded the entire population of this 
place on that bright summer day, never to be for- 
gotten while the world stands, the 17th of June, 1775. 
The men capable of bearing arms were mostly away 
— a part of the beleaguering host around Boston, 
Yonder, upon Eastey's Hill, might be seen their grey- 
haired fathers and mothers — their wives, and sisters, 
and daughters, and young children, watching — oh ! 
how. earnestly — the distant smoke-cloud, and listening 
with beating bosoms to that portentous roar of can- 
non, which spoke so unequivocally of some tremen- 
dous conflict. 

Although the sword had thus been drawn, and 
though precious blood had been spilt, it required 
many months to reconcile and to nerve the people to 



31 



tlie new idea of independence. But the cliange was, 
nevertlieless, effected, and almost universally. How tlie 
men of Topsfield felt in regard to tliis matter, is 
sli0T\'n by tlieir vote of June 14, 1Y76, wliicli was as 
follows : " Voted, Tliat in case tlie Honorable tlie 
Continental Congress sball tliiiik fit, fjr tlie safety of 
the United Colonies, to declare them independent of 
the kingdom of Great Britain, this town do solemnly 
engage to defend and support the measure, both with 
their lives and their foi'tunes, to the utmost of their 
power." 

On the 21st of the same month, and only thirteen 
days before the adoption of the Immortal Act itself, 
this town instructed to the same effect, its Kepresen- 
tative, Mr. John Gould, then attending the Pro^^n- 
cial Congress at Watertown. Thus did the voice of 
encouragement, and the pledge of support, from even 
this small community, mingling with similar voices 
from hundreds of other towns, actually reach the il- 
lustrious Congress at Philadelphia. It was not with- 
out evidence of the fact, that John Adams, who knew 
Massachusetts well, assured his compeers in Congress, 
that " the people would stand by the Declaration." 

The instructions to which I just referred, are re- 
markable not only for boldness, but for caution. With 
an unflinching determination to j^reserve or to main- 
tain all just rights, they evince the most decided 
aversion to needless innovation. Even at that early 
period, projects of reform in the constitution of the 
long-established government of Massachusetts, had been 



32 



brouglit forward in tlie Provincial Congress, wliicli to 
our thouglitfal Topsfield sages, seemed hasty and rasli. 
Tlie Representative was accordingly directed to oppose 
them, as matters requiring the deliberate consideration 
of the whole community in more quiet times. 

The authorship of those sensible and spirited town 
papers, may, I think, be safely ascribed to Stephen Per- 
kins and Israel Clark. More might easily be added, 
but I will not venture on your patience by pursu- 
ing farther, even this interesting portion of our town 
history. We have seen with what mingled caution 
and courage, zeal and coolness, the men of Topsfield, 
in common, and pari passu with their fellow-citizens 
elsewhere, advanced toward the grand crisis of their 
country's destiny. We find them, at length, fairly 
and fully embarked in the great cause of indepen- 
dence. We feel that they could not, and we know 
that for the most part they did not, prove recreant 
to the high obligations which they had assumed, wheth- 
er as pati'iots, as warriors, or as Christians. 

In this attempt at a sketch of the facts most pro- 
minent in our early history, I have confined myself, 
thus far, to those of a ci\dl and municipal character. 
I thought it better, for the sake of unity, to present 
the ecclesiastical affairs of Topsfield in one connected 
view. In point of fact, however, they were, as you 
well know, constantly and closely intermingled with 
those of a secular description. Hardly had the first 
feeble band of colonists planted themselves here in 
the woods, ere they established among them the 



33 



preacliiug of tlie Gospel. lu 1641, tlie Rev. William 
Knight, a resident of Ipswich, began to preacL. to the 
little company, and pi'obably continued his labors for 
several years. Mr. Knight died, as it is supposed, in 
1655. It was in that year that the Kev. William Per- 
kins came hither from Gloucester. Like Mr. Kniofht, 
he officiated a number of years. Of this distinguished 
Topsfield patriarch and truly good man, I shall have 
occasion to speak again. In 1663, a church was regu- 
larly constituted, and Thomas Gilbert was ordained the 
pastor. Mr. Gilbert, by birth a Scotchman, had been 
a clergyman of the Established Church, at Chedlie and 
at Edling, in England. He was one of the two thou- 
sand clergymen, who were ejected from their benefices 
by the Act of Uniformity, in 1662 ; so that he came 
almost directly from an English vicarage or curacy, to 
be the minister of a Puritan Congregational Church in 
the woods of Topsfield. Of his ministry here, little is 
known. He had difficulties with his people, who some- 
times arraigned their pastor before the courts of law. 
This appears from an answer recorded in the Kowley 
Church Book, as made to an application from Tops- 
field, when the latter sought the aid of Rowley in the 
ordination of Mr. Gilbert's successor. This, the church 
in Rowley declined to render, on the ground, in part, 
that Topsfield had not treated Mr. Gilbert w^ell — al- 
though they conceded, at the same time, that Mr. Gil- 
bert "had great failings," This twice-ejected minister 
died in Charlestown, in the year 16*73. ^'^ 

In 1672, Jeremiah Hobart was ordained here. His 
father, Rev. Peter Hobart, first minister of Ilingham, 

3 



34 



was a noted personage in Massachusetts. His long and 
obstinate contest with the Government is detailed, at 
length, in Gov. Winthrop's Memoir. The course of the 
son here was far from being a smooth one. His peo- 
ple accused him of immoralities, and withheld his pay. 
He, in his turn, sued the people, and obtained judg- 
ment. At the end of eight years he, too, was dis- 
missed. Mr. Hobart was again settled at Hempstead, 
L. I., where he staid a number of years. But finding, 
after a while, that his congregation had nearly all left, 
he concluded to go also. The people of Haddam, Ct., 
then took him up, and there he made out to stay until 
his final departure, in his 88th year. Although no 
special odor of sanctity seems to dwell around the name 
of this second regular minister of Topsfield, it is con- 
nected, nevertheless, with some others of eminent re- 
nown. His wife was Dorothy Whiting, daughter of the 
distinguished first minister of Lynn, and maternally 
descended from the titled family of St. John. Their 
daughter, Sarah, married a Brainard, and thus became 
the mother of that celebrated Missionary, whose name 
is inscribed on the same illustrious roll with those of 
^ Eliot, and Swartz, and Martyn. From a brother of 
Jeremy Hobart, was descended the Hon. John Sloss 
Hobart, long a Judge of the Supreme Court of New- 
York, and from another of his brothers, sprang John 
Henry Hol^art, the far-famed bishop of that name. 

Joseph Capen, a native of Dorchester, was the first 
of the Topsfield clergymen, who was boi'n on this side 
of the Atlantic. He was a graduate of Harvard Col- 
lege. His ministry here began in 1684, and continued 



35 



forty-one years. Tliere is notlilng to Indicate tliat he 
was not an acceptable pastor. He seems to liave l)een 
discreet in matters of a worldly nature, and faitliful to 
the obligations of his spiritual calling. He must have 
been a preacher of moderate al)ilities, if we may judge 
from a small printed specimen of his sermons, — a dis- 
course delivered at the funeral of a Ijrother minister, 
and prefaced 1)y one of Increase Mather's pedantic "In- 
troductions." His wife, Priscilla, was the daughter of 
John Appleton, of Ipswich, — a man of noljle spirit and 
of much distinction. They had daughters, who were 
married in Topsfield, and some of whose descendants, 
dou1>tless, are sitting here. Let me conclude this notice 
of Mr, Capen, by reciting from the Town-Book one of 
his receipts for delinquent rate-money. As a specimen 
of the style in which business transactions were fre- 
quently couched in those primitive times, it may not 
be uninteresting. "Received from Isaac Comings, Con- 
stable of Topsfield, for the year one thousand six hun- 
dred and eighty-six, — I say, received of luni the full of 
that rate, which was made for my use the year afore- 
said, and committed to liini to collect; I say, received 
of him for that year, in full, for Avhat was committed 
to him to gather. Joseph Capen." 

After a vacant interval of al)Out three years, Mr. 
John Emerson was placed over the church and congre- 
gation. Mr. Emerson was a grandson of Joseph Emer- 
son, the first Minister of Mendon, Mass., and a brother 
of the Rev. Joseph Emerson, of Maiden. The indi- 
vidual last named, married a daughter of Samuel Moody, 
the minister of York, so famous for his eccentricities 



3G 



and liis faitli. It may gratify some to be informed, that 
from tliis couple has descended, four generations down, 
the beautiful writer, and the eloquent apostle of trans- 
cendental philosophy, Kalph Waldo Emerson. The Rev. 
John Emerson appears to have been a pious clergyman, 
of respectable attainments, — whose long ministry of for- 
ty-six years, flowed on in quiet and harmony. His record 
of the church throughout this period, is occupied almost 
entirely with the ordinary details of regular business. 
I have said that his ministry was peaceful. The re- 
mark must be received, however, with some abatement. 
His people were often very remiss in the payment of 
his salary. This went so far that, on one occasion, he 
made a formal proposition to the church for a council 
of dismissal. To this the church unanimously objected. 
Nor was this all. The gradual depreciation of the cur- 
rency at length reduced his nominal salary to a mere 
pittance. The town's book shows that his reasonable 
and oft-repeated request for an increase, on this account, 
was, after numerous refusals, finally granted. Mr. Em- 
erson's labors here, ended almost with his life, just a 
year before the commencement of hostilities with Eng- 
land. The shrewd and prosperous Thomas Emerson 
was, as you know, his son. 

Five years elapsed before another minister was set- 
tled. Yet dark as these years were, with either the 
fearful menaces, or the stern realities of war, — borne 
down, as were the people, by the burden of taxes, 
and by the severity of the times, — let it not be sup- 
posed that this matter was neglected. It is, indeed, 
eminently characteristic of that age, and of its actors, 



37 



tliat tlie records of town meetings, "held here imme- 
diately before, and immediately after the all-exciting 
scenes of Lexington and Charlestown, e\ance an atten- 
tion to this important oliject, — the procuring of a 
minister, — just as earnest, and, to all appearance, just 
as unruffled, as though the cloud which had so long 
overhung the land, had not already hegun to dart its 
fiery bolts, and to pour in streams of blood. 

The Rev. Daniel Breck began his ministry in 1779. 
It appears from the church book that he early at- 
tempted to introduce some reforms. Church govern- 
ment and discipline had, as he thought, Ijecome lax 
and inoperative, and he aimed at giving them nata- 
lity and power. It was only natural that this should 
give offence, and awaken enmity. The opposition to 
his ministry fi'om this, or fr(jm some other cause, be- 
came, at length, too strong to resist, and the result 
was an honorable dismission after nine years of ser- 
vice. Mr. Breck was a man of fair talents, and a 
good wa'iter ; but in the pulpit his executive ability 
was smalL He removed to Hartland, in Vermont, 
where he was re-settled, and died, not many years 
since, in extreme old age. Wliile in Topsfield, he 
married the daughter of Elijah Porter, one of the 
ablest and best of its citizens. His son, Daniel, 1;)orn 
here, February 12, 1788, is now a highly respected 
member of our National Councils from the 8tate of 
Kentucky. 

On the 12th of November, 1780, the Rev. Asahel 
Iluntino'ton was here inducted into the sacred office. 

o 



38 



The ordained and the ordainers of that day, have, 
with a single exception, long since gone to their re- 
ward. The Kev. Saninel Nott, of Franklin, Ct.,— Mr. 
Huntington's friend, and senior by some years, — still 
survives, an almost centenarian wonder. On Mr. Hun- 
tington's most useful and acceptable ministry — ^on that 
plain good sense, — that unftiiling discretion, — that mild 
benevolence, and that blameless life, which made him 
so safe a model and so sure a guide, — I certainly need 
not enlarge, in the presence of those fathers and mo- 
thers, now white with age, who knew and loved him, 
— or of their children here, who have learned from 
them to revere his memory. 

I must close here my notices of the pulpit in Tops- 
field. Not that its occupants of a later period, jts 
interests, or its histoiy, are less important, or less 
worthy of commemoration ; — but because they are 
comparatively recent; — a part, if I may so say, of 
your own consciousness, and tar better known to you 
all, than they can be to me. ^^^ 

The house first erected for pul;)lic worship in this 
place, stood not far from the spot where Sylvanus 
Wildes, Esq., used to live. Such, at least, is the tra- 
dition. It was, probably, a small and rude structure, 
designed only for the temporary accommodation of 
the infant settlement. The second house, which stood 
in the burying ground, must have been put up be- 
fore 1676, as we find in the records no mention of 
its erection. In 1703, the third house was built, on 
the spot still used for the same purpose. This build- 



39 



ing^ after lia\dng accommodated the iulial)itants for 
more tliaii lialf a century, l)ecame, at leugtli, so di- 
lapidated, that it was dechired l)y a Committee of 
" Search" to be imworthy of repair. Who does not 
bless that grateful emotion, that almost pious feeling 
of attachment, which led Deacon George Bix1)y to 
preserve from the wreck of this old edifice, one pre- 
cious memorial ? Transmitted l^y him to his worthy 
and equally careful son, it lias come down to us un- 
impaired — and now stands before you, fronting to the 
south, just as it stood Ijefore your ancestors a hun- 
dred and forty -seven years ago. Beliind me is the 
venerable chair, from which Capen and Emerson so 
often rose to preach and pray, conjoined with, its old 
companion, after a se2:)aration of ninety years. Let 
tlie invalua])le i-elics be safely restored, and carefully 
preserved : nor again make their appearance in public, 
till in 1950 they shall once more come from their 
hundred years' retirement, to grace the Tliird Cen- 
tennial of Topsfield. 

The date of tlie fourth meeting-house will never 
be forgotten by those who were wont in childhood to 
\dsit the venerable place. The figures 11 — 59 sej^a- 
rated into two sections by a long hy})lien of space, 
have, indeed, j^erished with the pillars, whose capi- 
tals they adorned. But their image was long ago im- 
j)ressed upon many a mental taldet, from which it 
will never be eftaced, till the tablets themselves shall 
be no more. It was on the 4th of July, in the year 
just named, tliat the frame of this house was raised. 
The preparations made by the town, and recorded in 



40 



its book, give some fiiint idea of what a great raising 
was in tliose days. It was, indeed, an event long to be 
remembered — for the entire population, men, women, 
and childi'eu, with multitudes from the towns adjacent, 
then came together to perform, or else to behold and 
rejoice over the mighty work. To lift those huge oak 
timbers high in air, and there to place and to secure 
them, was no child's play, but demanded every stalwart 
arm for miles around. I find, in the town vote, no 
mention of derricks or pulleys, or cordage. They de- 
pended, it seems, on their own strong sinews, with, per- 
haps, some slight assistance from hydraulic power. 
What amount of it was deemed necessary in the pre- 
sent instance, may be gathered from the instructions 
given to the Committee, who were ordered to provide 
one barrel of rum and twelve barrels of cider. 

The large and respectable edifice to which I now 
allude, was, in many respects, decidedly in advance of 
its predecessors. It contained, when first opened for 
use, a numl)er of pews in the body of the house, and 
a row of them quite around the side. These were all 
sold to the wealthier members of the congregation. In 
the third house there were but three or four jjews, — 
put up l>y special ]3ermission, for as many aristocratic 
families. The remaining room was occupied by long 
benches. Upon these the ^^eople took their seats^ — not 
as accident or fancy led — but exactly where their 
places had been assigned l^y a committee, and fixed 
by the town. This distribution was determined by a 
rule. With a becoming respect for age, they gave the 
first and best places to men who were more than 



41 



sixty years old, witlioiit regard to property. To all 
tlie rest, seats were assigned according to the tax tliey 
paid. The men and women occnpied opposite sides, 
and the young were disposed of in the ]*ear. After 
the erection of the third structure, several attempts 
were made to seat those who had no pews, according 
to the old principle ; Ijut they were, I Ijelieve, all un- 
successful. A new order of things had, it seems, 
begun. ' 

To many of us, the image of that old house, where, 
for eighty years, the Gospel was pi'oclaimed, and its 
ordinances dispensed, must be ever dear. Venerable 
editice ! we see thee still, as when in childhood, we 
gazed with awe at thy vast form, thy towering spii'e, 
thy glittering and ever-restless weathercock. What 
pictures of the past revive, as thy immense interior 
once more rises on our mental \'ision ! There was thy 
pulpit — revered and awful rostrum, where, raised high 
in air, stood the holy man ; there, thy sounding-l^oard, 
projecting, seemingly unsupported, like an impending 
avalanche ; there, too, thy velvet cushion — soft as feath^ 
ers could make it, and sending up, when pounded by 
a \dgorous eloquence, clouds of sacred dust. Shall Ave 
ever forget thy lofty and spacious gallery — grand re- 
ceptacle of all ages and both sexes ? How well do 
we remember its foremost seat, — venerable with wrin- 
kled brows and snowy hair. How well recall the 
denser masses in the rear, where sober iniddle age, 
and sprightly youth, were seen, distinct in their ascend- 
ing ranks, like the vegetable zones of ^Etna. There, 
too, in one of the angles, marked by his staif of office, 



42 



sat tlie terrific tything-man. In front of tlie pulpit, 
rose, like some well-manned battery, the singers' seats. 
Wliat volleys of sound did we not receive, unshrink- 
ingly, from tliat noisy spot ! How anxious was the 
pause, — relieved only by a slight shuffling and by half- 
stilled hems, — which succeeded the reading of the 
psalm ! How like a small thunder-clap, burst upon the 
ear, that preluding note, which Ijrought every voice to 
the riglit pitch ! And then, who can recount tlie mu- 
sical glories which hung clustering round Thanksgiving- 
Day, — when the results of a month's preparation broke 
upon our heads in a perfect storm of sound ? How 
fearful the strife, when flute and clarionet, and viols, 
great and small, entered the lists with bass, and coun- 
ter, and tenor, and treble ! And oh ! how our hearts 
beat, — let me use another's words, — " at the turning of a 
fugue, — when the bass moved forward first, like the 
opening fire of artillery, — and the tenor advanced next, 
like a corps of grenadiers, — and the treble followed 
with the brilliant execution of infantry, — and the trum- 
pet counter shot 1:)y the whole, with the speed of dart- 
ing cavalry: — and then, when all mingled in that bat- 
tle of harmony and melody, and mysteriously fought 
their way through, with a well-ordered perplexity, that 
made us wonder how they ever came out exactly to- 
gether !" 

Will the pictured memory ever fade, of those square 
pews, with their little l^anisters, so convenient to 
twirl — so pleasant to j)eep through ; their uncushioned 
seats, which were hung on hinges, and raised in prayer- 
time, and which followed up the amen, with a loud. 



43 



rattling, running report, like an old-ftisliioned militia 
fire ; and tlie flag-seated chair, that stood in tlie cen- 
tre, for mother, or gi'and-ma'am, or spinster aunt? 
There were the long, free seats — there was the Elder's 
pew, with ii'on stand for hour-glass and christening 
basin — and there the Deacons' strait, snug box, where 
those good men were wont to sit, with their faces to 
the people and their Ijacks to the minister — " the ob- 
served of all observers," and examples of the highest 
edification, when they happened to l)e dozy. 

The first entry bearing on the great subject of edih- 
cation^ which I rememljer to have noticed in the Re- 
cords, belongs to the year 1G94. I fear it will not 
give you a very exalted idea of a teacher's dignity at 
that day. It is as follows : " The town have agreed 
that good man. Loud well, schoolmaster, shall live in 
the Parsonage house, this year ensuing, to keep schol- 
ars, and sweep the meeting-house." - 

The laws of the colony requiring the maintenance of 
schools were strict, and were generally enforced. This 
town, for a long period, had but a single schoolmaster. 
He was chosen at the annual meeting, and was usually 
a citizen of the place. A room in some private dwel- 
ling was hired for the purpose. The teacher received a 
small pittance from the treasury, and looked to the pa- 
rents for the rest. The town did not always comply 
with the full requisitions of the statute : for, occasionally, 
it was indicted for neglect, and chose committees to 
manage its defence in the courts. We have no reason 
to suppose that tlie standard of education here, in those 



44 



days, was liigli. The accommodations were poor — the 
time appropriated was short — the books in use were 
few and meagre — and the attainments of the teacher 
were often very moderate. The best school in the 
times of our fethers, would probably have made l)ut a 
sorry figure, could it have been contrasted with what 
we now regard as only respectable. 

Let us not, however, underrate the advantages which 
were then enjoyed. The difference, in this particular, 
between those times and ours, is less than would at 
first appear. Was the period of schooling short ? 
That very fact impelled to a more earnest diligence. 
Were none sent to school until the age of childhood 
was nearly or quite past ? They brought to their 
tasks, minds more mature, and an avidity for learn- 
ing which satiety had not yet palled. The men of 
whom I speak — Topsfield farmers of the I7th and 18th 
centuries — were certainly not great in book-learning, ac- 
cording to our notions of the thing. But let not the 
conceited scholar of these days pretend, on this account, 
to despise them. He would hardly have done so, had 
it been his lot to encounter them either in business or 
in argument. They had learned their lessons, not so 
much from books and masters, as in the harder school, 
and amid the stern necessities of life. Incessant con- 
flict with a cold and stormy clime — with an tmtamed 
wilderness — with a stubborn soil — with the wild beasts 
and savages — with the Fi'ench — and finally with the 
English — had little tendency to make them scholars, or 
pedants, or sciolists — but it did make them r)ien. 



45 



" Difficulty," says Edmund Burke, " is a severe in- 
structor, set over us ])y tlie suj^reme ordinance of a pa- 
rental guardian and legislator, wlio knows us better 
than we know ourselves — as He loves us better too. 
He that wrestles with us, strengthens our nerves, and 
sharpens our skill ; our antagonist is our helper. This 
amicalde contest with difficulty ol)liges us to an inti- 
mate acquaintance with our ol)ject ; it will not suffer 
us to l)e superficial." 

From the scanty written remains — but still more from 
what we have learned of the doings and achievements 
of those, whom these places once knew, we can form 
only a favorable opinion of their mental cpialities. 
Their spelling and syntax might not always conform 
to rule — at least to our rule — but they knew what they 
meant to say, and they said it. Their phraseology was 
often quaint, but it was not often senseless, or imper- 
tinent. If they talked but little, we may feel sure 
that they talked quite as much to the purpose, as the 
more ambitious and longer-winded speakers of the pre- 
sent, 

Nor should it be forgotten, that if their literary and 
scientific acquisitions w^ere moderate, few of them were 
ignorant of the Book of l)ooks. All were required to 
attend on the instructions of the sanctuary. The influ- 
ence of a metaphysical theology — tlie constant and 
earnest consideration and discussion of that theme, which 
they regarded as infinitely more important than any 
other — could not fail to make them acute and intel- 
lectually strong. On the whole, it is no reproach, but 



46 



high praise, to say — as we must say of multitudes 
then — that the extent of their attainments scarcely ex- 
ceeded that of the humble cottager, who, we are told, 

" Just knew and knew no more — her bible true." (9) 

The history of the "medical profession in this place 
is, so far as I have been able to get at it, soon told. 
I have seen no mention of any physician here, earlier 
than the second quarter of the last century. At that 
time, there was living in Topsfield, a Doctor Michael 
Dwinell, so at least he is repeatedly styled in the Re- 
cords. I know nothing of him, except that he held 
several petty offices in the town. Next aj^pears the 
name of Doct. Joseph Bradstreet, who died at an ad- 
vanced age in the latter part of the century. His 
practice, I think, must have been somewhat limited ; 
for he used occasionally to keep the town school. 
Richard Dexter seems to have been the first physician 
of much note. I can state nothing respecting his origin 
or education. He was somewhat highly connected, for 
he married the sister of General Israel Putnam, of Re- 
volutionary fame. He had, I believe, the confidence 
of the people here, not only as a 23hysician, but as 
a citizen. In regard to his professional skill, I can 
only say, that whatever it might Ije, it was not 
justly subject to the reproach of being merely "book- 
learned." His medical library contained just two vol- 
umes. Dr. Dexter's death occurred in 1Y83, and in 
tliat year Dr. Cleaveland and Dr. Merriam settled in 
the town. They were both young men — the former 
being a native of Ipswich, and the latter of Concord, 
in this State. From that time they divided between 



47 



tliem tlie medical practice of tlie place, and often 
extended tlieir visits into tlie neighboring towns. Di*. 
Merriam died in 1817, at tlie age of 59, leaving his 
name and profession to a son, still conspicuons liere. 
To these two men, in the hour of sickness and of 
danger, the families of Topsiield long entrusted them- 
selves, and found no reason to Avithdraw their con- 
fidence. Many of their former patients still survive. 
To these I cheerfully commit the memory of tlieir 
skill, their kindness, and their virtues ; and to these, 
for ohvions reasons, I leave tlieir eulogy. ^^°^ 

In the list of Imoyer-s resident, Topsfield makes a 
still liuiii1)ler show. In the days of my boyhood, and 
for many a year before, there was but one lawyer 
here, and he was '-'■tlie Lawyer." Sylvanus Wildes, 
who so long held this title, unshared and iindis2:)uted, 
was a lineal descendant of John Wilds, one of the first 
settlers of the town, and one of the principal men. 
Mr. Wildes graduated at Cani1)ridge, studied law, and 
was admitted to the l)ar. Had he been aml)itious of 
legal eminence, and its attendant emoluments, he would 
undoubtedly have ])Osted himself in one of the sea-board 
towns. Instead of that, he returned to his 1 )irth-place 
and his patrimonial acres. No painted, one storied of- 
fice, with conspicuous sign, proclaimed his place of busi- 
ness, or drew within its small enclosure crowds of eager 
and angry litigants. Wlioever wished him to write a 
deed, ov to make out a writ, might go and look for 
him in the corn-field. If his legal business did not 
make him I'icli or fat — neither did it liarass him by 
its labors or its responsibilities. Un vexed by clients, 



48 



unopposed hj rival lawyers, unclieeked hj a frowning 
Bench, and uuj^erplexed by legal quirks and quibbles, — 
which indeed he heartily despised, — Lawyer Wildes en- 
joyed the sweets of a perpetual vacation. Who, that 
knew him, does not still recall his venerable form, 
his small clothes, his blue ribbed stockings, and his 
cane, — as he sat conning the Boston Centinel, or de- 
nouncing, in no measured terms, the wickedness of a 
Jacobinical government ? Peace be to his memory ! 

The conclusion, drawn from these facts, would seem 
to be favorable to the town, so far as relates to the 
existence and cultivation here of a litigious spirit. Nor 
is it weakened, when we learn that Mr. Wildes' suc- 
cessor to the solitary honors of the Topsfield Bar, — 
though sprung from the loins and brought up at the 
feet of a New-England " Gamaliel," — has yet found it 
convenient to eke out his legal profits by occasional 
drafts on Hovey's Plain, or by now and then with- 
drawing the deposits from the jieat meadows. ^^^^ 

But apj)earances are often deceptive. I apprehend 
that a careful study of the history of Topsfield, from 
the earliest times to the present hour, would fail to 
confirm this pleasing notion of its peaceful tendencies. 
The habit of contending much at law, was indeed a 
common fault among the towns and people of New- 
England in former days. It is certainly to be regret- 
ted, if our little hamlet have retained the practice, 
long after its neighbors had abandoned it as discre- 
ditable and unprofitable — still more, if its fair repu- 
tation, as a community, has been made to suffer by 



49 

the contemptible quarrels and malignant pertinacity 
of any of its members, 

Topsfield lias, if I mistake not, long enjoyed, among 
its inland neighbors, a considerable reputation, in the 
department of vocal music. It lias certainly produced 
a large share of musical talent, and has, I believe, 
long abounded in good voices, — particularly in those 
which are adapted to basso parts. As in most small 
places, where the means of culture are scanty, the sing- 
ing here has been more remarkable for strength and 
accuracy, than for delicacy. In their execution, the 
choii' of TojDsfield — I speak of it, historically, and as I 
remember it — seldom failed to show power — but were 
not always careful to acquire that "temperance," which 
alone can give it "smoothness." 

This allusion to a delightful art, cannot fail to re^ 
vive, in many minds, the name and image of Jacob 
Kimball. He was the son of a sensil)le and worthy 
man, and Ijelonged to a family, more than usually in- 
telligent. Having graduated at Htirvard College, he 
studied law, and commenced the practice in Amherst, 
N. H. But, unfortunately, he was convi\dal, and spright- 
ly, and a fine singer. These attractions made liim poj)u- 
lar. He was drawn into the voi'tex of social amuse- 
ment, and, alas ! of social indulgence also. Having no 
appetite for the dry details of law and business, he 
soon abandoned his profession, and became a schooh 
master and a music-teacher. In the latter capacity he 
was widely-known, and he also enjoyed some celebrity 
as a composer. I would willingly prolong a theme, which 

4 



50 



niiglit be made both amusing and instructive. But I 
must forbear. Those frailties, which sullied, and per- 
haps shortened a career, that might have been so bright, 
cannot, even now, be recalled without a sigh. May they 
never be recalled without profit. 

Among the minor changes in matters of custom and 
taste, which he who travels through a New England 
book of records cannot fail to notice, is the gradual 
but entire fading out of those small aristocratic dis- 
tinctions, which were so carefully cherished in the ear- 
lier periods of the Commonwealth. Our forefathers 
exhibited the singular combination of sturdy republi- 
cans and good loyalists, while their notions of demo- 
cratic equality seem to have been drawn I'ather from 
imperious Rome, than from easy and elegant Athens. 
But the aristocratic element, previously weakened, could 
not survive the shock of the Revolution. The glory 
of Misters, and Captains, and Ensigns, and Cor2:)orals, 
declined, and these once important epithets no longer 
appear. I need not suggest how many pregnant pages 
of our unwritten history are involved in this simple 
and silent alteration. 

In the baptismal and obituary registers, we see the 
evidence of no slight mutation in the pro\dnce of 
Taste. Until within a period quite recent, we find no 
person encumbered by more than a single prsenomen, 
— and this, with scarce an exception, was some good 
old Scripture name. Here and there, indeed, was one 
from the same revered source, which to some may 
sound a little hard. Such were Ammi Ruhamah, and 



51 



Zorobabel, Trypliena, and Tryphosa. But if these of- 
fend our fastidious tastes, we shall find ample amends, 
while, with delighted eye we read, and with ra^dshed 
ear repeat, such appellations as the following: — "Ale- 
thina Philena ;" " Arethusa Elisabeth ;" " Abby Atossa ;" 
"Ithamar Evander;" "Wesley De-La-Fletcher;" "Eliza 
Anne Adelaide," and " Alonzo Augustine." 

Was it not, probably, meant as a sort of mock 
compensation for the departed pi'efixes of ante-revolu- 
tionary times, that our immediate fathers bestowed so 
many other and higher titles ? My elders and co- 
evals here may well smile, as they recall the jocular 
solemnity mth which those titles were used by the 
whole community. Lest mistakes should hereafter 
arise in regard to a matter so important, I think it 
pro2:)er to inform my younger auditors, and through 
them, posterity, that King Perkins, Governor Averell, 
and Colonel Cree, long sustained their high civil and 
military dignities, without the burden of one official 
care. In the obituary and marriage record, I have 
noticed the nuptials of a — " Prince," and the death 
of a — " Caesar." Though obscurity shrouds the names 
and deeds of these chieftains, I am inclined to think 
that they were of African origin. With "Madam" 
Dexter died, I believe, the last Topsfield lady who 
bore tliat honoral^le appellation, — and I am not aware 
that any one has succeeded to the respectable 
title, so long and so gracefully worn by " Gentleman 
John." 

It would be a work of deep interest and of high 



52 



advantage, to trace genealogically, and topographically, 
and (may I add?) locomotively also, tlie history of 
those families which first settled the town. And 
by this, I mean — to follow them through all their 
wanderings, and to pursue them in their minutest 
ramifications. What a picture of progress, of growth, 
of vast results from small beginnings, would such a 
labor unfold ! But a work like this is one of time, 
of patience, of persevering industry, and of consider- 
able expense. It is a singular fact — and one not alto- 
gether creditable to the town,^ — that the little which 
has been done in this way for Topsfield names, has 
been accomplished by individuals, who are not resi- 
dents of the place. 

From the scanty materials within my reach, I have 
gathered a few facts of this description, some of which 
I will present. You will perceive that I am, by com- 
pulsion, hmited to those families whose history has 
been more or less investigated. 

The earliest recorded name among the Topsfield 
settlers, is that of Zacheus Gould. This appears in a 
petition to Ij^swich in 1644, for aid to make a village 
about his farm. Zacheus Gould is represented by his 
descendant, Kev. Daniel Gould, as having come from 
Great Messingham. This is a town in the county of 
Lincoln. It seems far more jjrobable that he was 
from Messing in Essex. He is supposed to have come 
to America in 1638, and to have settled here in 1643. 
His original grant of several hundred acres was in 
what is now the western part of Topsfield. By subse- 



53 



quent purcliase lie added largely to thiB, until liis do- 
main liad swelled to nearly tliree thousand acres. This 
large tract lying partly in Boxford, descended to his only 
son, John, — who was, for many years, a prominent per- 
son in the to^^Ti. He often represented his fellow-citi- 
zens in the General Court, and, for a long time, com- 
manded the military company — when such an office was 
no sinecure. I have already given you a touch of his 
quality, as displayed in the time of Andros. This rural 
mao'nate divided his noble farm amono; his five 
sons. Of them, John, and afterwards, Joseph, succeeded 
to his offices and honors, both civil and military. 
Another John — son of Zacheus, and grandson of John 
the Patriarch, became a man noted and useful. He re- 
presented the town at the breaking out of the Revolu- 
tion, and continued in that responsible station until 
1778, when he died on his post, at Watertown, of the 
small-pox. His T)rother Zacheus was also an exceed- 
ingly capable, useful, and benevolent man. Of the last 
named John's two sons, one is yet well remembered 
here as " good Deacon John." The other was Captain 
Benjamin Gould. He held commissions in the militia, 
and afterwards in the Continental Army. He saw his 
first service on the day of Lexington Fight, and to his 
latest hour, an honorable scar bore testimony to his 
l:)ravery on that occasion. On the I7tli of June he was 
one of the reinforcement so unaccountably delayed, and 
which reached the Hill too late to save the Redoubt, and 
in time only to join with its gallant defenders in tlieir 
retreat. ^'"> At the time when Col. Wade, of Ipswich, 
then at West Point, received that note from Washing- 
ton, which ap])rized him of Arnold's defection, and 



54 



charged him to maintain the fortress at all hazards, Cap- 
tain Gould commanded a company in his regiment. In 
the events which preceded and compelled the surrender 
of Burgoyne, he bore his share. But let me tell the 
story of Captain Gould's Kevolutionary services in his 
own language. It was recorded by a filial pen, in words, 
which have been read, and felt, and admired by thou- 
sands, — and which will continue to be read, till poetry 
and patriotism shall no longer touch the heart. His 
little grandson sits upon the veteran's knee, and begs 
that he will tell him that story of "the wars." 

" Come, Grandfather, show how you carried your gun, 
To the field, where America's freedom was won. 
Or bore your old sword, which you say was new then, 
When you rose to command and led forward your men ] 
And say how you felt, with the balls whizzing by. 
When the wounded fell round you, to bleed and to die !" 

The prattler had stirred in the veteran's breast, 

The embers of fire that had long been at rest ; 

The blood of his youth rushed anew through his veins ; 

The veteran returned to his weary campaigns ; 

His perilous battles at once fighting o'er, 

While the soul of nineteen lit the eye of four-score. 

" I carried my musket, as one that must be 

But loosed from the hold of the dead or the free. 

And fearless I lifted my good, trusty sword, 

In the hand of a mortal, the strength of the Lord : 

In battle, my vital flame, freely I felt, 

Should go, but the chains of my country to melt." 

" I sprinkled my blood upon Lexington's sod. 

And Charlestown's green height to the war drum I trod, 

From the fort on the Hudson our guns I depressed, 

The proud coming sail of the foe to arrest ; 

I stood at Still-water, the Lakes and White Plains, 

And oifered for Freedom, to empty my veins." 



55 



fThis good and brave man long survived tlie stir- 
ring and trying scenes of liis youth and manliood. 
He lived to see his children prosperous and honored. 
The cradle of his declining age was gently rocked hy 
hands of affection, until, on his ninetieth ]jirth-day, 
he fell asleep. ^^^^ 

Major Joseph Grould, who must be still remembered 
by some of the living, was another grandson of the 
stiff old patriarch John. He is said to have been a 
man of moderate intellect, but brave as forty lions. 
On the ever memorable and ever glorious 19th of 
April, the news from Lexington, spreading like wild- 
fire in every du'ection, reached this place at al:)out 10 
o'clock in the forenoon. The farmers were busy in 
their fields; — but there was no hesitation. The plough 
was stayed in mid-furrow — and within an hour, many 
were on their way to the scene of conflict. Joseph 
Gould commanded one of the Topsfield companies. 
When and where, exactly, they came up with the re- 
treating enemy, I do not know. Somewhere, they 
found them, and from behind a low wall or dyke, 
began their murderous fire. But their heroic Captain 
disdained such shelter. He thought it, j^erhaps, un- 
dignified for an officer to lie down. So he stood Ijolt 
upright — gave his orders — faced the enemy and the 
bullets, and, as good luck would have it, came off 
unhurt. 

You must very generally rememljer the Rev. Daniel 
Gould, — his triennial visits to this, his 1 )irth-place,' — and 
his pathetic farewell sermons, begun, when he seemed 



56 



quite an old man— but continued and repeated from 
year to year, until they used to excite anything but 
teoA's. This worthy man, who was a great grand-son 
of the oldest John Gould, and a lineal possessor of 
the original homestead, has left a manuscript history 
of the Grould family in Topsfield. It contains some 
valuable information, but is more remarkable for its 
pious spirit, than it is for statistic accuracy or com- 
pleteness. At the close, he gives a brief sketch of 
what he considers the characteristic qualities of the 
Grould race. As many of the name now hei'e have, 
perhaps, never seen this document, they may be pleased 
to hear themselves described by this learned " clerk," this 

" Clansman born — this kinsman true." 

Having, in the course of his narrative, mentioned 
one of the Zacheuses — a favorite name among them, he 
says, " I know little of him, except that he was a man 
very much set in his way," which, adds the old gentle- 
man, " /-y 'peculiarly cliaracteristiG of the fwmilyy "I 
would observe," he says, "generally, that the Gould 
family are as steady a set of people as are any where 
to be found, and are good and peaceable membei*s of 
society. They have been, in all their generations, in- 
dependent farmers, and live by their industry, without 
troubling or disturbing others. They are warm and 
steady friends, and kind and benevolent to all men. 
They are not greatly enterprizing, but live in a state 
of mediocrity^ nor are they much given to literature or 
reading. It is not so hard to aj^pease as to provoke 
them Tliey content themselves with their own private 
aifairs, highly esteeming their own ways, customs, and 



57 



lial)its ; witliout looking mucli beyond themselves to he 
benefited l^y tlie improvements or vain pliilosopliy of 
others. They are deliberate in laying their plans, and 
not hasty in the execution of them. In a woi'd, impli- 
cit trust and confidence may be placed in them; for 
they des^nse truckling, fi-aud, and deceit. Honesty, 
justice, and truth, are the characteristics of the family." 

From a very early period in the history of this town, 
the Peabody name has been identified with it. Thanks 
to tlie spirit of family pride or of antiquarian curiosity, 
great pains have recently l)een taken to dig out the 
roots and follow out the branches of the old Peabody 
tree. Old, it may well l)e called, since it has already 
attained to a growth of nearly two thousand years. 
Boadie, it seems, was the primeval name. He was a 
gallant British Chieftain, who came to tlie rescue of his 
Queen Boadicea, when "bleeding from the Roman 
rods." From the disastrous battle in which she lost her 
crown and life, he fled to the Cambrian mountains. 
There his posterity lived and became the terror of the 
lowlands. Thus it was, that the term Pea, which means 
"mountain," was prefixed to Boadie, which means 
"man." There was a Peabody, it seems, among the 
Knights of the Pound Table, for the name was first 
registered, with due heraldic honors, by command of 
Kino' Arthur himself. j. . 

But leading camps and courts, and dropping down 
through a few centuries of time, we find ourselves at a 
small place in Hertfordshire, about seventeen miles from 
London, and called St. Albans. A young man, now 



58 



just of age, is about leaving Ms birth-place and country 
for a distant land. He has called on the Minister and 
obtained a certificate of good character, and the Justices 
of the Peace have borne similar attestation. The parting 
scene is soon over — and next we find him embarked in 
the ship Planter, Captain Trarice, and bound for New- 
England. This was in 1635. Three years afterwards 
this young adventurer — ^whose name is Francis Pabody, 
is li\dng at Hampton, now in the S. E. corner of New 
Hampshire. ^^^^ After spending a few years in that 
place, where he makes himself, at once, active and use- 
ful, he removes, finally, to Topsfield, and this place con- 
tinues to be his residence from 1657 to 1698, the year 
of his death. 

At the period when the business transactions of this 
town Ijegin to apj^ear on record, Lieut. Francis Pabody 
was e\ddently the first man in the place, for capacity 
and influence. And such he continued to be, until the 
infirmities of age, we may presume, withdrew him from 
the activities of life. He owned much laud in Tops- 
field, in Boxford, and in Powley. The first mill in 
this place was set up by him, on the stream which 
flows by the spot where he lived. His wife was a 
daughter of Reginald Foster, whose family, Mr. Endi- 
cott, in his genealogy of the Peabodys, informs us, is 
"honorably mentioned" by Sir Walter Scott, in Mar- 
mion and the Lay. What was the exact connection of 
our Reginald and his daughter Mary, with those moss- 
troopers of the Border, who rode so hard and so fruit- 
lessly in the chase of Young Lochinvar, does not 
appear. 



59 



Of tlieir large family, three sons settled in Boxford, 
and two remained in Topsiield. From tliese five pa- 
triarclis, liave come, it is said, all the Peabodys in 
this country. Among those of this name who have 
devoted themselves to the sacred office, the Rev. Oliver 
Peal:)ody, who died at Natick, almost a hundred years 
ago, is honorably distinguished. Those twin Peabodys, 
now alas! no more — William Oliver Bourne and Oliver 
William Bourne, twins, not in age only, but in genius 
and virtue, learning and piety, will long be remem- 
bered with admiration and regret. The Rev. David Pea- 
body of this town, whom you well knew, and who died 
while a Professor in the College at Hanover, deserves 
honorable mention. A kinsman of his, also of To])s- 
field, is at this moment, la])oring, a devoted missionary 
in the ancient land of Cyrus. The Rev. Andrew T. 
Peabody of Portsmouth, and Rev. Ephraim Pealjody of 
Boston, are too well and favorably known to require 
that I should more than allude to them. Professor 
Silliman, of Yale College, is descended on one side 
from a Peabody. 

Like the Goulds, the Pealjody name has abounded 
in l)rave and patriotic spirits. Among them we find 
a general, three colonels, seven captains, five lieuten- 
ants, and one cornet. Many of these served in tlie 
French and the Revolutionary wars. One of them fell 
with Wolfe and Montcalm, on the ])lains of Abraham. 
Another assisted at the capture of Ticonderoga and of 
Louisburg, and in the siege of Bostou. Another was 
among the most gallant of the comljatants on Ihmker 
Hill. Another commanded a company in the Conti- 



60 

nental army, and sent his sons to tlie war as fast as 
tliey became able. One more, Natlianiel Peabody, of 
Atkinson, N. H., conmianded a regiment in tlie war of 
the Revolution, and subsequently represented his state 
in the Continental Congress. 

In medicine and law, the reputation of the name 
rests more, perhaps, on the quality, than on the num- 
ber of practitioners. In commerce, too, this family 
may boast of at least one eminent example — one archi- 
tect of a princely fortune. I need not name him. 

The Perkinses, a name more frequent here than any 
other, are descended in distinct lines, from two indi\a- 
duals, — John and William, who were probably cousins. 
John Perkins came, it is supposed, from Newent, 
England, where he was born in 1590. He was a 
fellow passenger in the ship Lyon, with the great 
Roger Williams, and arrived at Boston in 1631. Two 
years afterward, he settled in Ipswich. The island at 
the mouth of our river, long called Perkins', 1)ut now 
Giddings' Island, belonged to him. His house was 
near Manning's Neck, and close to the river. This 
patriarch represented Ipswich in the General Court, 
and was evidently a man of mark in that highly 
respectable community. Thomas Perkins was his second 
son, and, at the age of fifteen, came with his father, 
from old England. He settled, early, in Topsfield, 
where, in 1660, he had become a large proprietor. 
He is the Dea. Thomas Perkins, sen., of the Topsfield 
records, where we find honorable mention of his name. 
Plis wife was daughter of old Zacheus Gould, thus 



61 



blending with tliat ancient and lionorable name, all 
tlie Perkinses liere of Tliomas' line. His honse stood 
near wliere Tliomas Perkins now lives — liard by tlie 
Newbury];)ort Turnpike. He died in 1686. Dea. Tlios. 
Perkins' second son was named Elislia, and liis wife 
was Katharine Towne. Thomas, their eldest son, with 
Mary Wildes, his wife, removed in 1719 to Arundel, 
in Maine. Of this place, — afterwards called Kenne- 
bunk Port — he was one of the principal inhabitants. 
For a minute and interesting account of the Perkins 
family, now numerous in that place, the readers of 
Bradbury's History of the Town are indebted to 
Horatio N. Perkins, Esq., of Boston : — a direct de- 
scendant, through the above-named Captain Thomas of 
Kennebunk, from Dea. Thomas Perkins of Topsfield ; — 
and one, who has done, I l)elieve, more than any or 
all others of his lineage, to rescue from oblivion the 
name and virtues of his ancestry. 

John, a house-carpenter, was the third son of Dea. 
Thomas. Of his five sons, Moses was the youngest, 
and married Anna Cummini>'s. The humble cotta2:e in 
which he lived and reared a numerous family, has 
been converted into a repository for fuel, and still 
stands hy the road-side, on the River Hill, just 1)elow 
the mansion, wliicli was built by liis greatly prospered 
son. The life and character of Capt. Thomas Perkins 
are too well known to need description here. The 
ambitious spirit which drew or drove the young cooper 
from his father's workshop, to encounter the hardships 
and hazards of the sea; his subsequent thrift and en- 
terprize; his long association with Caj^tain Peabody; 



62 



his retirement from active business, and liis protracted 
sojourn on tlie hill-side where he was born; the quiet 
habits of the secluded old bachelor, and the frugal, 
simple life of the seemingly unconscious millionaire, — 
are all fresh in the memory of many who now hear 
me. 

We cannot claim, as of Topsfield origin, that great 
mechanician, to whose ingenious and useful discove- 
ries and inventions, Europe as well as America, paid 
the tril)ute of a willing admiration. Yet it may be 
interesting in this connection to learn, that Jacob 
Perkins, formerly of Newburyport, and late of Lon- 
don, was directly descended from the same John Per- 
kins of Ipswich, to whom so many of the Topsfield 
Perkinses have now been traced. 

But there was another Perkins even more distin- 
guished than Dea. Thomas, in the early annals of the 
town. The Rev, Wm. Perkins was a native of Lon- 
don, and was born in 1607. Li 1633 we find him 
associated with the illustrious John Winthrop, jun., 
and eleven others, the first settlers of Ipswich. The 
following year he removed to Roxbury, where he 
married Elisabeth Wooton. In 1640 he re\asited his 
native country. Soon after his return, we find him 
representing Weymouth in the General Court, acting 
as leader of a military company, — and one of the An- 
cient and Honorable Artillery Company. From 1650 to 
1655, he was preaching to the inhabitants of Glou- 
cester. From that place he came to Topsfield. Here, 
after having preached a few years, he spent the re- 



63 



mainder of liis life in tlie calm pursuits of husband- 
ry. Among the early settlers of the town, Mr. Wil- 
liam Perkins was, probably, the most accomplished 
person. He was a scholar and a man of business, — 
a farmer, a clergyman, a soldier, and a legislator. In 
each of these relations, — so unlike, and, according to 
present notions, so incompatible, — he bore himself, so 
far as we can learn, with ability and discretion. His 
children appear to have l:)een all well married ; and 
their social position, in those days of aristocratic dis- 
tinctions and manners, must have been on the top- 
most level, — since one of his daughters married a son 
of Gov. Bradstreet, and one of his sous, a daughter 
of Major-General Denison. , - 

A written, and it is supposed an autograph account 
of the births and l)aptisms of his children, their mar- 
riage, etc., has been preserved. This interesting docu- 
ment is interspersed with ejaculatory expressions, which 
breathe a spirit of humble piety as well as of paternal 
affection. He died in 1682. This useful and good 
man transmitted to his sons a large portion of his 
own willingness and capacity for public lousiness — if 
any judgment can be formed from the j^rominence of 
their names among the official agents of the town. 
Among these names — that of Tobijah, who passed suc- 
cessively from the rank and title of corporal to that 
of captain, is specially distinguished. Another Tol)ijah 
of a later period, was also a military leader. At the 
time of the Revolution, there "was pro1)al)ly no man 
here, more prominent or efficient, than Capt. Ste])hen 
Perkins, another of the same descent. It is sufficient 



64 



to point, as we can, to-day, to tlie pulpit, tlie bar, 
and the bench, to show, that migration has not im- 
paired the \T.rtues of the race. 

Joseph Herrick, the first of that name who settled 
in Topsfield, was a grandson of Henry Herrick, of Sa- 
lem, the patriarchal head of a vast family. Joseph 
resided on Mine Hill, where Nathaniel Porter lately 
lived. His name appears often in the Records, as a 
person of note. The burying-ground in that vicinity 
was given by him, in 1739, to a number of Topsfield 
and Middleton families. His grandson, Israel, lived 
awhile in Topsfield and Boxford ; but finally died in 
Lewiston, Maine. He entered the army as a lieutenant, 
in 1745, and was out in nineteen campaigns. In 1763, 
he left the service a major, by brevet. The war of 
Independence again called him to the field, and he 

was among the defenders of Bunker Hill, ^Nehe- 

miah Herrick was another grandson of Joseph, and 
inherited and occupied the homestead. After serving 
the town long, and in various ca]3acities, he removed 
to Cavendish, Vermont. 

Those of the name now resident here, are descen- 
dants in the seventh and eighth generations from John, 
of Beverley, the seventh child of the patriarch above 
named. Though their migration hither is of recent 
date, tliey are still, in part, of Topsfield origin, having 
sprung from Mary Redington, who was a Topsfield 
girl, nearly two hundred years ago. 



65 



The Porters, now almost extinct in tlie place, were 
for many years among tlie first in talent and respec- 
tability. Natlianiel and Elijali Porter were probably 
among the earliest settlers in what was long called 
Blind Hole — an epithet, derived, it is supposed, from 
the extreme density of the forest in that spot. The 
ground which they occupied is still partly in the Por- 
ter name, and partly forms the fair fields and luxu- 
riant orchards of the old Cummings place. Elijah 
sold his interest in Blind Hole, and purchased the 
house and laud afterwards owned l)y Dr. Cleave- 
land. He was evidently a capable and ready man, 
useful in the church, and active in town affairs. He 
was more than once a rej^tresentative to the General 
Court, and when he died, held the office of town- 
clerk and treasurer. A cousin of his, the Rev. Dr. 
Nathaniel Porter, was educated at Cambridge. The 
Revolutionary. War was not over when he was settled 
in the little town of Conway, New-Hampshire. Here, 
almost beneath the shadow of Mount Washington, he 
lived in usefulness and peace to the great age of 
ninety-two. ^'^^ 

Among the names early found here, and long re- 
spectable, but which have passed entirely away, there 
was, perhaps, none more worthy than that of Reding- 
ton. Elizabeth Redington, daughter of Abraham, was 
born in 1645, and hers is the first recoi'ded l)irth. 
John, a brother, doubtless, of Abraham, seems to have 
settled here at the same time. They were together 
on a committee to run the line between Topsfield and 
Salem, in 1659. From this date, for nearly or quite 

5 



66 



a hundred years, the name of Redington is prominent 
among those wlio were selected as representatives, 
jurymen, schoolmasters, and munici];)al officers. Of this 
scattered family, I have been able to trace the mi- 
grations and present abode of but a single branch. 
Early in the 18th century, Thomas Redington appears 
to have removed to Boxford. Abraham, one of the 
sons, went into Maine. Of his children, who were 
among the first settlers of Vassalboro' and Waterville, 
one still lives in vigorous and venerable age. I refer 
to Samuel Redington, now of Hampden, Maine, who 
was for many years an efficient and highly esteemed 
member of the Massachusetts and Mame leoislatures. 
A son of his is, at this time, the Adjutant-General of 
Maine, and Mayor of the city of Augusta. His ne- 
phew. Judge Asa Redington, is the Law Reporter for 
that State. If the other Redingtons, who sprung from 
Topsfield sires, and who are living, — I know not where, — 
be doing as w^ell as those just named, it is fair to 
conclude that there is no degeneracy among tliem. 

My endeavors to ascertain the precise antiquity of the 
most ancient dwelling-houses here, have been attended 
with but small success. The honor of being "the old- 
est house in town" is claimed for three or four ; and 
it is a question of precedence, which, for want of po- 
sitive evidence, seems likely to remain open. The Ca- 
pen house — so called — erected by the minister of that 
name, is undoubtedly very old. It was standing at 
the beginning of the 18th century, we know; how 
much earlier it is impossible to tell. 



67 



The house in wliicli Col. Bradstreet lately lived, 
belongs, it is supposed, to the first quarter of the last 
century. If actually of that date, it was l)uilt with 
an attention to looks and comfort, by no means usual 
at the time. The cottage which bore the name of 
the Governor, and which he is believed to have erected, 
stood more to the west, upon the opposite side of the 
road. • ■ 

There has l)een a traditionary opinion, that the 
house formerly owned Ijy Rev. Daniel Gould, and now 
on the land of Captain Elliot, is extremely ancient. 
This opinion is not wholly without confirmation. A 
few months since, the chimney of this house was taken 
down. Between the wood work and the bricks was 
found an ancient paper in good preservation. Its date 
is Feb. 1, 1075. It is an account presented by John 
Ruck and John Putnam, to the Proprietors of the 
Iron Works in Rowley Village, — with the doings of 
a meeting of said Proprietors. It is not strange that 
such a paper should have been in this house, for Za- 
cheus and John Gould are known to have l)een in- 
terested in those works. The liouse may l^e, — prolja- 
bly it is, quite as old as the paper. If so — rude and 
rejected as it is, it should strongly interest every 
bearer of the Gould name. It is the rough but ho- 
nest cradle of their race. Tliere, pr(^)])ably, lived Za- 
cheus, the first,— there, undoubtedly, lived their brave 
and jjious ancestor, Capt. John Gould. 

The cotta2:e, whicli once held within its coarse oak 
walls and ceiling the germs of all the Peabodys in 



68 

America, is, I suppose, still in existence. The house, 
now owned and occupied l)y Aaron Kneeland, has 
every mark of antiquity. It stands, undoubtedly, on 
the spot where Francis Pabody first planted himself, 
as early as 1057, and was, in all probability, erected 
by him, although not his first habitation. ^'^^ 

I have, let me confess, looked of late with an un- 
wonted interest on these two relics of a distant past. 
Heretofore, they were but the squalid abodes of fam- 
ilies unknown to me. No historic honors or associ- 
ations had then spread over them their magic charm. 
But, more recently, I have stood and gazed at them, 
until I saw them again encircled by the very forests 
from which their massive timbers and hard planks 
were taken. Next, I re-peopled them with their ori- 
ginal tenants — with valiant men, and firm, true-heart- 
ed women — a strong, industrious, and pious I'ace. And 
then Imagination took wing, and tracked from these 
two little fountains the streams of a successive emi- 
gration ; — streams that have flowed and spread, and 
multiplied as they spread, — until a thousand commu- 
nities, scattered far and wide over all the land, have 
felt and have blessed their refreshing influences. 

How many heroes of the l)attle-field, — how many 
sages at the council-board, — what liglits of the pidpit 
and of the forum, — what enterprises of business and 
of benevolence, — what conquests of science and of art, 
— and what strains of poetry di™e,— might all go 
back for their origin, and acknowledge as their cra- 
dle-homes, that old house on the Gould plain, and that 



69 



dilapidated cottage by the Peabody mill-pond! Can any 
ivied ruin of feudal fortress — can tlie proudest archi- 
tecture of baronial hall, or lordly palace, boast of as- 
sociations, or exhibit a history, more truly, or more 
gloriously sublime ? Who does not wish that such 
memorials as these — such Avitnesses as they, to the sim- 
ple greatness of our pilgrim sires, might be piously pro- 
tected, and long preserved from tlie destroying ele- 
ments, and still more ftital hand of man ! 

There are now living in Massachusetts, a dozen de- 
scendants from old Topsfield men, each of whom, pro- 
ba})ly, — (I say it without a metaphor,) — could overlay 
with solid silver, or with beaten gold, the plain, un- 
plastered cottages, which their fathers reared among 
these woods, and in whicli they lived revered, and 
died lamented. • , , 

Let it not be imagined that this remark is prompted 
T)y any blind admiration of mere wealth. Compared 
with the priceless treasures of intellect and heart, it 
seems — it must seem — to every well-regulated mind, 
more worthless than the dust w^e tread on. Unaccom- 
panied and uncontrolled by intelligence, virtue, and T)e- 
nevolence, it only bloats its possessor into a more hi- 
deous deformity, — it only gibbets him on a moiu^ ridi- 
culous and more ignominous elevation. But there are 
those who have seen, Avith the Roman moralist, its jiro- 
per beauty and its true splendor. There are those who 
have learned in a better school, and from a Divine 
Master, their duty and their responsibility as stewards. 
Happy is it for the communities to which they belong 



70 



and liapj^y and glorious for tliemselves, if tlie ricli de- 
scendants of Francis Pabody, Jolin Gould, Jolin Wilds, 
and Thomas Perkins, understand as well, and discharge 
as truly, each personal and social obligation, as did 
those worthy men from whose loins they sprung. 

I have scarcely left myself room for placing, side 
by side, in the strong lights of comparison and of con- 
trast, those dissimilar pictures — the present and the past. 
This is the less needful, inasmuch as the principal chan- 
ges that have been eifected in the usages of society, 
and in the habits, manners, and condition of the peo- 
ple, have occurred within a period comparatively re- 
cent. The memory of your oldest men runs back to 
days, when the primitive simplicity of the fh^st hundred 
years had not departed. They have not forgotten a 
single feature of those flinty, those iron times. How 
often have we heard from their own lips, the touching 
narrative of penury, of hardship, and of toil ! The 
rise and progress of modern manufactures and machi- 
nery, have, of necessity, banished fi'om the farms of 
Topsfield theii' sheep-folds and flax-fields, — and from 
your houses the spinning-wheel and the loom. This 
great alteration, so materially affecting the style and 
habits of domestic industry, belongs even to the pre- 
sent century. Still later, and scarcely less important, 
is the extensive introduction among yourselves, of the 
shoe manuflicture. But upon these matters of your own 
familiar experience, I need not dwell. ^^'^ 

It may, perhaps, be expected that I shall touch up- 
on the question of progress and degeneracy, — and re- 



n 



vive, if not rasMy attempt, to settle tliat long-agi- 
tated dispute — the contest for superiority between the 
ancients and the moderns. In the great elements of 
mind and character, has Topsfield advanced or declined 
as it has grown older? — Under the wise and eternal 
constitution of things, men are ti-ained and formed, 
not only for, but l:)y the times in which they hap- 
pen to live. I have already had occasion to allude 
to those invigorating influences, under which our fa- 
thers became shrewd, and wise, and valiant, and vir- 
tuous. In the more robust elements of mind and of 
character, I question if there have been an advance. 
I seriously doubt whether as many men, strong for 
council and for action, could now be summoned from 
the homes of Topsfield, as used to assemble in the 
old meetinor-house in 1775. But the same intellectual 
and moral elements are here still. The blood wliicli 
warmed those rural sages and heroes, yet flows, it is 
to be hoped, undebased, in your veins. Should the 
emergency ever come, — should the times again grow 
eventful and dark, — should you see your dearest rights 
and pri\'ileges in danger, — you would ^n^ove yourselves 
worthy of your fathers : — would you not ? 

That tbere has been a constant and marked ad- 
vance in knowledge and refinement, with tlieir many 
liberalizing influences and adorning graces, admits of 
no doubt. That there has l)een any deterioration, on 
the whole, even in morals and religion, I should be 
slow to believe. Indeed, I think it can be shown 
that there has been actual improvement. I love to 
cherish an undoubting faith in humanity, and in pro- 



72 



gress. I look not at individual cases of degeneracy 
and degradation — sucli have always existed. I make 
no reference to whole families, once prosj^erous and 
respectable, now ignoble or extinct. So it has ever 
been. We must look at man, as he appears in the 
great mass, and in the long run, — and then we find 
his career to be ever onward and upward. This gra- 
dual, but sure advancement, in all that relates to his 
physical and moral well-being, may not unaptly be 
compared to the slow upheaving of a continent. Forces 
of resistless energy, unseen, indeed, and unheard, are 
steadily at work below. No agitation in the mighty 
mass — ^no visible motion, apprizes the dwellers on its 
surface, of the constantly progressive process. And 
yet its reality is incontestibly proved, if not from 
year to year, at least from age to age, by the re- 
treating sea-marks on the shore. 

And now, — though deeply conscious that I leave 
many things untouched, and that the whole is imper- 
fect, I must hasten to a conclusion. 

Descendants of the men who first subdued and plant- 
ed the hills and plains of Topsfield ! Do you not feel, 
in view of even this faint and feeble portraiture of 
your ancestors, that you have done well in assembling 
here this day, to recall and to commemorate their toils 
and sacrifices, their sufiferings and their virtues ? What 
spectacle can be more pleasing than the one here pre- 
sented? What tribute to the memory and the worth 
of your forefathers, could be more appropriate than 
that which you thus render? This sylvan bower — those 



n 



azure heavens — tlie circumjacent landscape — tliese thou- 
sands of animated faces — and the h^ud acclaim of your 
own resounding voices ; — do they not bring back, by 
the power, either of identity or contrast, those earlier 
gatherings here, on which, even the phlegmatic savage 
gazed with wonder, two hundred years ago ? Over 
them, as over you, waved a verdurous canopy. Around 
them, as now round you, were hung ' the soft blue 
curtains' of the sky. But here the resemblance ends. 
Wliere now, in the midst of orchards and fruitful fields, 
are seen your comfortal)le homes — then stood among 
the stumps of their small clearings, the rude hal^ita- 
tions of your fathers. That country which now smiles 
far and wide in cultivated beauty, ^vas then a frown- 
ing, interniinal )le, forest-shade. No mild, yet powerful 
government, of their own erection and choice, stretched 
over them the i^egis of its pi'otecting arm. No opulent 
commerce poured into tlieir lap the luxuries and treas- 
ures of tlie world. No Lowell or Manchester clothed 
them with the cheap and abundant products of tlieir 
looms. No roads, nor rails, nor conveyances, either 
swift or slow, facilitated their movements from place 
to place. The plenty and the vaiiety which crown 
your daily board, were to them unknown. 

Yet, were they ricli, — in faith ; and strong, — in the 
simple power of truth and love. More important in 
their eyes than any physical comforts, were the eternal 
principles of reason, and liberty, and religion. More 
precious to them than all the world beside, were their 
rights of conscience, and tlieir hopes of Heaven. 



'74 



Yes, revered Forefathers and Founders of tliis town ! 
we will write upon our memory your honored names, 
and deep will we enshrine thelii in our inmost heart. 
On the fields, which your toil first subdued ; in the 
homes, which your enterprize won and bequeathed ; 
amid the comforts and luxuries, which your sacrifices 
procured for us ; • enjoying, unrestrained, the rights and 
privileges, which England denied to you ; — we cannot, 
and we wdll not, forget the men, from whom our rich 
inheritance descended. May the light which you en- 
kindled here — the light of liberty and law, of learning 
and religion, never go out ! Let it be our first employ- 
ment and our praise to fan and to transmit the sacred 
flame. 



NOTES 



ADDRESS. 



APPENDIX. 



NOTE I.— Page 9. 



John Endicott was bom in 1588, at Dorchester, in England. Of his family 
little is known beyond the fact that it was respectable in condition and character. 
He first comes into public notice in 1628, when we find him associated with John 
Humphrey, a brother-in-law of the Earl of Lincoln, with Sir Henry Roswell, Sir 
John Young, and two others, in purchasing from the Plymouth Council for 
New-England, a large grant of land upon Massachusetts Bay. John Winthrop, 
Sir Richard Saltonstall, and other wealthy Puritans, joined the association, and 
Endicott, as a man of tried courage and ability, was selected to conduct the 
first expedition. He arrived at Naumkeag on the 6th of Sept., 1628^ and here 
in the forest, with some fifty or sixty persons under his direction, set himself 
resolutely to his great work of founding a state. In the following year he 
was, by vote of the Company in England, duly appointed Governor of the 
" Plantation." Sickness soon attacked the settlement, and many died — among 
them the wife of the governor. With a laudable regard for the pecuniary as 
well as moral interests of the colony, he prosecuted those, who, in violation 
of law, traded with the Indians — arrested Morton, of Mt. Wollaston, and sent 
him home — and cut down the May-pole which this jolly fellow had erected 
upon Merry Mount. In the summer of this year came a large reinforcement. 
The arrival of Shelton and Higginson was followed by the establishment of a 
church on principles of entire independence, over which they were set. 
Two of Endicott's Council, John and Samuel Browne, displeased at the rejec- 
tion of the Liturgy, left the congregation, and had a service of their own. 
The governor at once shipped them for England. The Brownes complained 
loudly, and the home government cautioned Endicott against rash measures, — 
but the decision remained unreversed. 

In 1630, the government having been transferred to America, Winthrop came 
out as chief magistrate, Endicott being made one of the Assistants. The seat 
of authority was soon changed from Salem to Newton, and then to Boston ; 
but Endicott remained in his first home. Higginson died this year, and was 
succeeded in office by Roger Williams. This great but strange man had 
already made himself ol)noxious to the Boston church, by his censures of their 
conduct, and the Court reproved Endicott for giving him countenance. In 16:32, 



11 APPENDIX. 

Endicott received from the Court a grant of 300 acres, upon which he buiit, 
and which he called the Orchard Farm. This pleasant spot, which is more 
than two miles from what afterwards became the main settlement, was his 
principal residence for many years. The locality is well known. 

In 1634, an important matter came up for discussion among the colonists. 
It was the question whether the women should wear veils when they went to 
meeting. Cotton thought that these " signs of submission," might be dis- 
pensed with, while Endicott was staunch upon the other side. Affairs of greater 
moment succeeded. Alarming intelligence was received from England. The 
colony was seriously menaced with the loss of its patent, and the subversion 
of its new-found liberty. Letters of private intercession, as well as of public 
excuse, were sent home. Preparations were made for defence, and a military 
commission, of which Dudley was President, and to which Endicott belonged, 
was appointed, " to consult, direct, and give command, for the managing and 
ordering of any war that might befall," &c. But King Ch'arles soon found 
so much to occupy him at home, that New-England was spared. It was just 
before the arrival of the threatening rumors from England, that Endicott, in- 
fluenced, perhaps, by Williams, cut the red cross from the colors. He was by 
no means the only one, who regarded this symbol as a Popish and idolatrous 
emblem. But there was certainly no other man in the colony who dared thus 
to deface the royal banner. For prudential reasons a show was made of cen- 
suring him, but the result at length was, that the cross was laid aside. 

Roger Williams, who had repeatedly been in difficulty on account of his 
free opinions, at last filled up the measure of his offences, and was banished 
from Massachusetts. Even Endicott, who had hitherto stood by him, and who 
had suffered hardship for this adherence, was compelled to give him up. This 
was in 1635. In the following year occurred the first Indian difficulties. 
Some Englishmen had been killed by the Pequods and Narragansetts. An 
expedition of four companies, commanded by our hero, was sent to punish 
them. The Block Islanders, whom he was ordered to exterminate, had warning, 
and got out of his way. All he could do, then, was to burn their wigwams' 
stave their canoes, and destroy their corn. He then went among the Pequods 
with whom he had a skirmish, which resulted in the death of several of the 
natives. Though he returned to Boston without loss, the expedition did little 
more than to exasperate the Indians, and thus brought on that fatal war, in 
which the Pequod nation perished. In 1641, Endicott's friend and pastor, 
Hugh Peters, was, after much reluctance on the part of the former, released 
from his connections in Salem, to go as agent of the government to England. 
This distinguished man, who was not a theologian merely, and to whom Salem 
owes the commencement of that marine and commercial activity, for which 
she has so long been famous, never returned. His subsequent history and unhappy 
fate need not here be told. This year, Endicott became Deputy-Governor, — a station 



APPENDIX. Ill 

which he hekl till 1G44, when he was made chief magistrate. He was suc- 
ceeded by Dudley at the end of the year, but received, instead, the appoint- 
ment of Sergeant-Major-Ceneral, and that of United Commissioner. 

In 1648, a copper mine was discovered upon his land in Topsfleld. Mr. 
Leader, a metallurgist, then superintending the Lynn iron works, having ex- 
pressed a favorable opinion of the ore, Endicott was at con.siderable expense 
in excavating and working it. The location of this mine is well known. 
More than 120 years after its discovery, it was, in sjiite of Endicott's failure, 
again opened, and worked for awhile, at considerable loss to the projectors. 
After another interval of about seventy years, a company of Salem cai)italists 
caused the old shaft to be cleared out, and subjected the ore to analysis. 
The result was, that the hole was once more tilled up, never again, probably, 
to be disturbed. 

On the death of Winthrop, 1649, Endicott was chosen Governor, and held 
the office (two years excepted) until his death, in 1665. The Roundheads 
being now uppermost in England, one of the first acts of the Court, with 
Endicott and Dudley at its head, was to come out strong against the practice 
of wearing long hair. In 1656, at the request of the Court, he removed from 
his beloved Salem to the scat of government. In 1657, he received for £75 
paid, another grant in Topsfield of one thousand acres. This land, or a part 
of it, he afterwards exchanged. This was the time of the Quaker persecution 
— an affair, which says little for the liberality, or even the good sense, of our 
fathers. In the indelible reproach, then incurred by Massachusetts, our Gov- 
ernor must bear his share. Let us see to it, however, that he does not bear 
more. In 1661, Endicott received a Mandanms from the king, requiring the 
arrest and extradition of Whalley and Goffe. In his executive acts, and espe- 
cially in his loyal epistle to the Chancellor, Clarendon, — -the Puritan Governor 
tried to manifest a zeal in the royal service, which we cannot possibly sup- 
pose that he felt. The actual result was, that the regicides were never 
given up. 

Endicott died on the 4th of February, 16G5. He was 77 years old. His 
history presents us with an admirable specimen of Puritan virtue and great- 
ness. While we trace the record, while we peruse his letters, while we con- 
template his pictured features — we can almost sec before us, the stern, decisive, 
fearless and impetuous man, who arrested and sent off the Brownes — and 
hewed down Morton's May-pole — and struck Goodman Dexter — and slashed the 
king's banner — and contended so earnestly for veils, and against long hair. 
Remarkably fitted, as he was, for the time in which he lived, and the scenes 
in which he bore so prominent a part, we are compelled to feel that, under 
no circumstances, could he have been an ordinary personage. He liad not the 
learning and* eloquence of Winthrop, nor the prudential wisdom of Bradstrcet — 
but he surpassed them both in manly courage and in heartiness of spirit. 



IV APPENDIX. 

<^ He was as staunch a Puritan as Dudley, with less austerity. Had he stayed 
in England he would have been a conspicuous member of the Rump, or one of 
the heroes of Naseby. His was a better and more glorious lot. Among those 
illustrious men, who, as the founders of states, have made themselves immortal, 
his name will descend, with augmenting lustre, to the latest times. 

The descendants of Gov. Endicott have been genealogically traced to the 
ninth generation, with the exception of one branch, which removed to New- 
Jersey. Though the race has not, on the whole, been prolific, the name has 
always existed, and still flourishes in Salem and Danvers. One grand-son of 
the Governor and two of his great grand-sons were inhabitants of Topsfield. 
Of the latter — at whose death the Endicott male line became extinct in the 
town, and almost so in New-England — little is known. Scarcely more can be 
said of their father, Zerubbabel the second, and that little shows that he had 
sadly declined from his grand-sire's standard of patriotism and virtue. 



NOTE n.— P.^GE 10. 

Simon BR.iDSTREET was born in 1603, at Horbling, in Lincolnshire. His 
father was one of the non-conforming ministers, and died when the son was 
but fourteen years old. At this time he found, it seems, a generous patron in 
the Earl of Lincoln, who took him under his protection, and probably sent 
him to Cambridge. It has been repeatedly stated that he spent but one year 
at Cambridge. But Mr. Savage, when there, found his name entered on the 
books of Emanuel College, in 1617 — his matriculation as a Sizar, in 1618 — 
and his subsequent admission, in duo course, to the regular degrees ; the first 
in 1620, and the second in 1624. 

After leaving the University, he acted for several years as steward in the 
household of his patron, and was afterwards employed in the same capacity 
by the Countess of Warwick. His familiarity with the House of Lincoln, 
brought him in contact with the celebrated Thomas Dudley, then one of the 
Earl's employes — and in 1628, he was married to Anne, Dudley's oldest daugh- 
ter. It was during the year which preceded this, that White and his associates 
in the south-west of England, were meditating the design of a plantation on 
the shores of Massachusetts Bay. " About the same time," says Bancroft, 
" some friends in Lincolnshire fell into discourse about New-England ; imagin- 
ation swelled with the thought of planting the pure gospel among the quiet 
shades of America ; it seemed better to depend upon the benevolence of uncul- 
tivated nature and the care of Providence, than to endure the constraint of the 
English laws and the severities of the English hierarchy. * ♦ * * After some 
deliberation, persons in London and the west country were madfe acquainted 
with the design." 



'^» 




SK^vATt; I'HAMBRR I\{> 






APPENDIX, V 

Who tliese " friends" were is shown by the sequel. It requires but a slinhl 
effort of faney to set before us tliat accomplished circle — or to imagine tlu; 
tone and purport of those earnest discussions. In them nnisl have joined the 
approved Lady Bridget, Countess of Lincoln, — her sister-in-law, the gentle 
Lady Arabella, with her excellent husband, Isaac Johnson — the somewhat aus- 
tere Dudley — the courteous Bradstreet — and his beloved Anne. These illustrious 
persons, surrounded by all the comforts, and elegancies, and privileges of rank 
and wealth, and apparently secure in the enjoyment, were nobly resolved to 
quit them all for the sake of conscience and of liberty. In the entire annals 
of colonization there is no instance of a sacrifice for principle, comparable to 
that which was made by many among those who founded the settlement of 
Massachusetts Bay. 

Mr. Bradstreet was chosen one of the Assistants, under the Charter, pre- 
viously to the adoption of that bold step by which the government was trans- 
ferred to New-England, and came out in 1630, with the company under "VVin- 
throp and Dudley. He was one of the first settlers of Cambridge, where he 
lived several years. He was, also, for a short time, an inhabitant of Ipswich. 
The 500 acres in Salem, granted to him by the Court in 1639, were, by the 
terms, " to be in the next convenient place to Gov. Endicotfs farm." Five 
years later we find him residing in Andover, where, in 1644, he built the first 
mill upon that little stream, which now turns so many wheels. This place 
was his abode for nearly twenty years. During all this period, however, his 
public duties must have kept him much from home. He was the first Secretary 
to the Colony, and held the office long. In 1641, we find him, in company 
with the famous Hugli Peters, travelling on foot from Salem to Dover — they 
having been appointed Commissioners by Massacliusetts, to ascertain the causes 
of trouble in the quarrelling New-Hampshire Colony. 

In 1643, was formed the first Confederacy in English America. Plymouth, 
Connecticut, New-Haven, and Massachusetts, joined in a league, called the Uni- 
ted Colonies of New-England. Its affairs were entrusted to a Board of Com- 
missioners, in which the colonies were equally represented. To them all In- 
dian matters and foreign relations were assigned, and no colony could declare 
w'ar without their consent. Of this first American Congress, Bradstreet was a 
member. For twenty years this body figures largely in New-England history, 
and the position of the two Massachusetts Commissioners must have been one 
of high iuttuence as well as responsiiiility. In 1653, he showed his good sense 
and moderation by an eflicient opposition to the hostile schemes of his fellow 
Commissioners, who were anxious to declare war, first against the Dutch, and 
then against the Indians. 

In 1662, the colony of Massachusetts, being, not without reason, alarmed in 
regard to the intentions of Charles II., despatched Bradstreet and Norton, as 
agents, to plead their cause. It was justly deemed a mission of some peril, 



VI APPENDIX. 

and an indemnity was assured to them in case of detention or loss. These able 
and prudent embassadors soon returned with a royal letter — recognizing the 
charter, and promising amnesty, but insisting also upon some very important 
changes in the administration of colonial affairs. Though the terms were the 
best that could be obtained, and, for the most part, not unreasonable, they were 
yet extremely unpalatable to a majority of the people. The agents, as though 
they had betrayed the sacred interests of liberty and religion, were assailed with 
unmeasured abuse. Norton, the excellent and accomplished clergyman, and 
hitherto one of the most popular men in the Province, sunk under the storm, 
and died of grief His colleague, fortunately, was of sterner stuff. He lived 
to see his views confirmed, and adopted, and to find himself once more riding 
triumphantly on the wave of public favor. In 1679, the party for tolerance and 
moderation had become sufficiently strong to place Bradstreet in the governor's 
chair, when he succeeded Leverett. 

When, four years after, the indefatigable Randolph came out to serve the 
long-threatened writ of Qiw Warranto, the Governor, perceiving that resistance 
must be worse than futile, advised his countrymen to yield. But the stout 
Puritan heart chose rather to break than to bend. Massachusetts lost its char- 
ter. Joseph Dudley held, for a short time, the office of President, and Brad- 
street was offered a seat in the Council — which he declined. To the arbitrary 
measures of Andros he made strenuous opposition — and as soon as the petty 
tyrant was down, the old man was caught up by the people, and re-seated in 
the chair of state. This was in 1689. Three years later, Sir William Phipps 
came with the new Charter, and Bradstreet, then in his ninetieth year, retired 
from public life. In 1697, he died at Salem. 

By his first wife, Anne, Gov. Bradstreet had eight children. x\fter her 
death, which occurred at Andover, in 1672, he was again married to the widow 
of the brave Capt. Jos. Gardner. This lady was a sister of the famous Sir 
George Downing. Capt. Gardner's house, which was Bradstreet's home during 
the latter part of his life, stood on Main-Street, Salem, where now stands the 
house erected by the late Joseph A. Peabody, Esq. A wood-cut representation 
of this old mansion may be seen in Vol. I. of Felt's Salem Annals. 

Among the great men of that illustrious emigration which laid the foun- 
dation of Massachusetts, Simon Bradstreet will ever be conspicuous. Yet his 
figure, it must be confessed, does not stand out with the bold and sharp re- 
lief, which marks the forms of Endicott, Winthrop, and Dudley. In him, the 
precisian character, so often stern, seems to have been presented in its mild- 
est and most attractive phase. Though not distinguished by brilliant powers, 
his long continuance in high public station, bears undeniable testimony to the 
soundness of his judgment, and to his great capacity for business. Moderate, 
prudent, and conciliatory, he preferred peace to strife, and chose to win by 
kindness, rather than to vanquish by storm. Let it be remembered to his 



APPENDIX. VII 

credit, that he was one of the first among the magistrates of the Colony to 
come out in favor of toleration. This he did as early as 1646, in the case 
of Child and his associates ; Bellingham and Saltonstall, alone, joinino- with 
him. In the colonial proceedings against the Anabaptists and the Quakers, 
Bradstreet's course was less elevated and consistent, although he does not 
appear to have been particularly active. In tlie case of Elizabeth Morse of 
Newbury, condemned in 1680, by the Court of Assistants to die for witch- 
craft. Governor Bradstreet showed his superiority to the popular delusion, and 
by his prudent firmness undoubtedly saved the life of one innocent victim. 
Had he been permitted to hold but for a short time longer those reins of 
government, which in 1692 he surrendered to Phipps, Massachusetts would, 
probably, have been saved from the deepest and darkest stigma that rests upon 
her name. 

As a statesman, Governor B. belonged, evidently, to that valuable class, — 
the moderate conservatives. In times of party violence, such men are sure to 
be assailed with bitterness by the extreme sections of either side, — and they 
are equally sure of general approval, whenever passion shall give place to 
reason. This, as we have seen, was strikingly the case in regard to Brad- 
street. While we thus rapidly retrace his long career of usefulness, we feel 
that his was truly "a great and fortunate name." For more than sixty years 
he held, by annual election, a high place of honor and power. He lived 
until he and the few who at first acted with him, had passed from the con- 
dition of a feeble and maligned minority, into that of a triumphant majority. 
His gentle temper and unvarying equanimity undoubtedly 'contributed to the pro- 
longation of his faculties and his years ; and when he died, his eye might 
well be brightened with pious gratitude, as it rested upon the prosperous and 
rising state, whose steps, from tottering infancy to adult strength, he had 
done so much to sustain and guide. 

Anne Bradstreet, on the now large and fast-swelling list of " American 
Female Poets," must ever hold the priority in time and place. Her first ap- 
pearance as an author was under the auspices of an anonymous friend, 
who did not hesitate to call her the "Tenth Muse." The edition of her 
Poems which lies before me, purports to be the Third, and was printed 
in 1758. The dedication to her father is dated in 1642. It consists, mainly, 
of five quaternions — to wit, the Four Elements, the Four Humors, the Four 
Ages, the Four Seasons, and the Four Great Monarchies. These are followed 
by a Dialogue between Old England and New — by Elegies, Epitaphs, Contem- 
plations, &c. Though we cannot but smile at the extravagant eulogy, which 
Ward, Rogers, Norton, and others, in their rhyming prefaces and postscript, 
heaped upon the author — the book is not without merit. She was evidently 
a person of good abilities, who had read and thought much. Her diction, 



Vlir APPENDIX. 

though generally careless, rises at times to something like beauty, and gives 
evidence of what she might have become under a severer training, and upon 
a fairer field. The object of her unqualified admiration, and her chosen model, 
doubtless, was the now-forgotten Du Bartas. The works of this Frenchman 
had been translated by the Puritan, Sylvester, and seem to have been reo-arded 
by his brethren as alike orthodox in poetry and sentiment. That Mrs. B. was 
enamored of such a writer, must not, however, be set down to the disparage- 
ment of her taste, if Mr. Dunster be right, who thinks that Milton once had 
the same love ; and that in the writings of Du Bartas may still be found 
"the prima stamina of Paradise Lost.'' 

The portions of this little volume which most interest me, are her address 
to her father, her lines upon his death, her epistles to her absent husband, 
her account of her family, &c. These effusions, full of truth and feeling, as- 
sure me that no " lettered rage" had chilled in her the sweet affections of 
the heart. Be her poetic merit what it may, it is safe to infer that she was 
an exemplary daughter, and mother, and wife. And when I reflect upon the 
times in which she lived — the scenes through which she passed — the hard ne- 
cessities of her daily life, and the jealous strictness in sentiments and man- 
ners by which society was then controlled, — influences so fitted to disperse or 
repel those — 

" Gentler virtues, such as play 
Round life's more cultured walks, and charm the way," — ■ 

a new emotion is born within me, and I begin to wonder how she could 
sing at all. Her notes, like those of night's " solemn bird," seem more me- 
lodious from the fact, that she had the spirit to pour them forth from amid 
the gloom and solitude of our primeval forests. 

In the sixth generation, descended through the Remingtons and Ellerys from 
Gov. Bradstrcet and his poetic spouse, is Richard H. Dana, senr., of Boston. 
I need not say that Mr. D. as a critic, and as a writer of both prose and 
verse, stands high among the authors of our day. He certainly is not one 
of those who rest upon ancestral fame ; for when, through a friend, I applied 
for some information on this point, he seemed almost to have forgotten that 
he could claim descent from one who so long occupied the curule chair, and 
— (how could a Poet be so oblivious!) — from the "Tenth Muse" herself. 

The following account of the Topsfield Bradstreets, is condensed from the 
" Dudley Genealogies" : — 

John Bradstreet, fourth son of Governor Simon Bradstreet, was born at 
Andover, July 22, 1652 ; m. Sarah, dau. of Rev. William Perkins ; d. Jan. 
11th, 1718. Their children were — Simon, born 1682, m. Elisabeth, dau. of 
Rev. Joseph Capen ; John, b. 1693, m. Rebecca ; Margaret, b. 1696 ; 



APPENDIX. IX 

Samuel, b. 1699, m. Sarah Clarke. The children of Simon and Elisaheth, (b. 

1712 to 1728,) were Elisabeth, ni. Joseph Peal)ody ; Simon, m. Miss Flint ; 
Dudley ; John, m. Elisabeth Fisk ; Margaret, m. Mr. Andrews ; Friseiila ; Lucy, 

m. Robert Andrews ; Dr. Joseph, m. Abby Fuller ; Mercy, m. Mr. Stone. To 

John Bradstreet, last named, were b. (1745 to 1756,) Priscilla, m. J. Killam; 
Mary ; Mehitable ; Huldah ; Lucy ; Eunice, ni. Benjamin Emerson ; Capt. 

Dudley, m. Polly Porter ; Elisabeth, m. John Gould ; Sarah, m. Daniel Gould. 

S.\MUEL, son of John, son of Gov. Simon, m. Sarah Clarke, and had (1724 to 

1736,) Anne, Sarah, Samuel, m. Ruth Lamson ; Elijah ; Eunice ; Asa. S.\m- 

UEL, last-named, and Ruth had issue, (1764 to 1773.) Samuel, m. Matilda Fos- 
ter; Ruth m. Billy Emerson; Elijah ni. Phcbe Ingalls ; Asa m. Abigail 
Balch ; John m. Mehitable Balch ; Moses m. Lydia Peabody. To Capt. Dud- 
ley Bradstreet and Polly, were born (1789 to 1813,) Col. Porter, m. Mehita- 
ble Bradstreet; Major John m. Sarah Rea ; Dudley; Mary m. Samuel Pea- 
body ; Joseph m. Abigail Shaw ; Elisabeth P. m. Silas ( 'ochran ; Albert G. 
m. Lydia B. Stearns ; Rev. Thos. J. m. Amanda Thomas ; Sarah m. A. H. 

Putnam ; Jonathan ; Lydia m. Stephen White. The children of S.\muel BracK 

street and Matilda, (1786 to 1800,) were Abigail, Samuel, Nathaniel, Moses. 

Elijah and Phebe had Eliza, Stephen, Phebe, Ruth, Ruby. Asa and Abigail 

had (1792, 1793,) William m. Eunice Perkins; Asa. John and Mehitable had 

(1793 to 1811,) Mehitable; Cornelius; Ruth m. Solomon Wildes; Cynthia; 

Josiah ; John. Moses and Lydia had (1796 to 1801,) Lydia m. Nehemiah 

Perkins; Phebe ffl. ' Solomon Wildes, and d. 1824; Cynthia; Eunice. Ben- 
jamin E.MERSON and Eunice (Bradstreet) had (1785 to 1799,) Benjamin m. Miss 
Balch ; Mehitable m. Samuel Burtlebank ; Lucy m. Mr. Davis ; Bradstreet ; 

Elisabeth B. Billy Emerson and Ruth (Bradstreet) had Lydia m. James 

Stearns ; Ruth m. John Foster ; Eliza P. m. Gilbert Brownell ; Thomas. Dan- 
iel Gould and Sarah (Bradstreet) had Sarah, m. Caleb Warner ; Priscilla m. 
Mr. Sprague ; Asenath m. John Perley ; Daniel m. Lydia Batchelder ; Mehi- 
table m. Rev. Mr. Blanchard. The late Dr. Bradstreet, of Newburyport, a 

person highly respected as a physician and a man, was a native of Tops- 
field, and a descendant from the Governor, but in what line I have been un- 
able to ascertain. His father's name was Henr\^ I remember him well, and 
a more fractious and perverse old man I never knew. 



NOTE III.— Pare 11. 

To tlie never-failing kindness and research of Mr. Charles Folsom, of the 
Boston Athenffium, I owe the means of presenting this account of Topesficld 
in England. It is to be hoped tliat some descendant of the early Topsfield 
settlers, when visiting that country, will make it a business to find this little 



X APPENDIX. 

parish, and to examine its register. Not only might the question of origin be 
thus put beyond a doubt, but other facts of interest might, perhaps, be ob- 
tained. This seems a proper place to mention that Topsfield has, at least, 
one daughter. A township bearing the name may be seen upon the map of 
Maine in the S. E. corner of the State. It is described as a tract of valu- 
able pine and spruce timber land, with several lofty swells. Its earliest set- 
tler was Nehemiah Kneeland, a native of our Topsfield, who in 1831, drew 
his family upon a hand-sled into this wild abode, and set up his humble Pe- 
nates in its first rude cabin. It has now a population of about 200. The Ro- 
mulus of this small but growing town, (who is living still,) is descended from 
an Irishman, who seems to have been a very obstinate fellow, and who gave 
our excellent predecessors no small trouble. Neland — so the name was writ- 
ten then — had built a house directly on the line which separated Ipswich from 
Topsfield. A^Hienever the constable of the latter called on him for his taxes, 
Neland was sure to be in the Ipswich part of his small room ; and on that 
ground refused payment. Whether he played the same game with Ipswich is 
not known. Probably they were more indulgent ; for there was a dispute be- 
tween the towns in regard to the exact line of boundary.. That Topsfield had 
no notion of being trifled with, abundantly appears from various entries in 
the town book. The following deposition, dated 1693, (for which I am in- 
debted to Mr. J. Perkins Towne,) shows how they sometimes enforced the law 
in those days : — " The depositions of Elisha Perkins, about 37 years ; and John 
Averell, aged about 29 years ; and John French, aged about 21 years. Tes- 
tifieth and saith, that on the 30th day of December last, Ephraim Wilds, con- 
stable of Topsfield, did require of us to go along with him to Edward Ne- 
land's house, and there we heard the said Wilds demand a rate of the said 
Neland's wife, the said Neland not being at home, as his wife told us ; and 
his wife told the said constable he never should have any rates of them, and 
would not let said constable go iiato the house, but shut the door; and there 
being several fatted hogs in the yard, the constable commanded us to help 
him to catch one of them ; accordingly we drove them into a pen, joining to 
the said Neland's house, and there we saw Ephraim Wilds, constable, distrain 
one of the said hogs, with the warrant from the Treasurer, and rate from 
the Selectmen of Topsfield, and with the black staflf in his hand. The said 
Neland's house stands upon a farm commonly called Mr. Simondses farm, which 
has been accounted for many years to be in Topsfield. And further we do 
testify, that before the said constable carried away the hog, the abovesaid Ne- 
land came home, and we heard said constable tell said Neland what he had 
done, and proffered him the hog again, if said Neland would pay the rate ; 
but the said Neland refused, and said he would never pay a penny of it, and 
then the said constable carried away the hog. Sworn," &c. I ought in jus- 
tice to add, that the boundary question was settled in 1697, and that Ne- 
land's dwelling was thus left in Ipswich, about two rods from the line. 



APPENDIX. XI 

NOTE IV.— Page 20. 

There is another tradition in regard to a garrison house, which stood, it 
is said, upon land now belonging to Elijah Perkins. It is not improbable 
that there were two, or perhaps the site was changed as the population in- 
creased. 

The ancient farm on Eastey's Hill, lias been for several years the posses- 
sion and summer residence of the Hon. Bonjamin W. Crowningshield of Bos- 
ton. Mr. C. is a man of large wealth, and during the administration of Pres- 
ident Madison, was, for a time. Secretary of the Navy. 



NOTE v.— Page 23. 

Rebecca Nurse was first assailed. When Mr. Parris singled her out in his 
prayers, and in his sermon called her a demon, Sarah Cloyse, with sisterly in- 
dignation, rose and left the meeting-house. This was enough. She also was 
cried out upon, and sent to prison. For no other reason, probably, than that 
she sympathized with her innocent and suffering sisters, was the exemplary 
Mary Eastey selected as a victim — torn from her children, and immured in a 
jail. 

Extract from the petition of Mary Eastey and Sarah Cloyse, presented to 
the Court before their trial : — 

" Whereas wc two sisters stand now before the honored Court, charged 
with the suspicion of witchcraft, our humble request is, first — that seeing we 
are neither able to plead our own cause, nor is counsel allowed to those in 
our condition, that you, who are our judges, would please to be of counsel to 
us, to direct us wherein we may stand in need. Secondly, that whereas we 
are not conscious to ourselves of any guilt in the least degree of that crime 
whereof we are now accused, (in the presence of the living God we speak 
it, before whose awful tribunal we know we must, ere long, appear,) nor of 
any other scandalous evil or miscarriage inconsistent with Christianity, those 
who have had the longest and best knowledge of us, being persons of good 
report, may be suffered to testify upon oath what they know concerning each 
of us — namely, Mr. Capen, the pastor, and those of the town and church of 
Topsfield, who are ready to say something which we hope may be looked 
upon as very considerable in this matter, with the seven children of one of 
us — namely, Mary Eastey ; and that it may be produced of like nature in re- 
ference to the wife of Peter Cloyse, her sister. Thirdly, that the testimony 
of witches, or such as are afflicted, as is supposed, by witches, may not be 



Xn APPENDIX. 

improved to condemn us, without other legal evidence concurring. We hope 
the honored court and jury will be so tender of the lives of such as we are, 
who have for many years lived under the unblemished reputation of Chris- 
tianity, as not to condemn them without a fair and equal hearing of what 
may be said for us, as well as against us. And your poor supplicants shall 
be bound always to pray." 

To the above, which is taken from " Chandler's American Criminal Trials," 
Mr. C. adds — "After the condemnation of Mary Eastey, she sent another pe- 
tition to the Court, which, as an exhibition of the noblest fortitude, united 
with sweetness of temper, dignity, and resignation, as well as of calmness 
towards those who had selected so many victims from her family, will be 
read with unqualified admiration. When it is recollected that confession was 
the sure, if not the only means of obtaining the favor of the Court, this pe- 
tition must be regarded as a most affecting appeal by an humble and feeble 
woman, about to lay down her life in the cause of truth ; and who, a wife 
and a mother, in circumstances of terrible trial, uttered no word of complaint, 
but met her fate with a calmness and resignation, which excites the wonder 
of all who read her story." 

"The humble petition of Mary Eastey, unto his Excellency Sir William 
Phipps, and to the honorable judge and bench, now sitting in judicature in 
Salem, and the reverend ministers, humbly shcweth : That whereas your poor 
and humble petitioner, being condemned to die, doth humbly beg of you to 
take it into your judicious and pious consideration, that your poor and hum- 
ble petitioner, knowing my own innoccncy, (blessed be the Lord for it,) and 
seeing plainly the wiles and subtilty of my accusers, by myself cannot but 
judge charitably of others that are going the same way with myself, if 
the Lord step not mightily in. I was confined a whole month on the same 
account that I am now condemned for, and then cleared by the afflicted per- 
sons, as some of your honors know ; and in two days time I was cried out 
upon by them, and have been confined, and now am condemned to die. The 
Lord above knows my innocency then, and likewise doth now, as at the great 
day will be known to men and angels. I petition to your honors not for my 
own life, for I know I must die, and my appointed time is set ; but the 
Lord he knows it is — if it be possible — that no more innocent blood may be 
shed ; which undoubtedly cannot be avoided in the way and course you go 
on. I question not but your honors do, to the utmost of your powers, in 
the discovery and detecting of witchcraft and witches, and would not be guilty 
of innocent blood for the world ; but by my own innocency I know you are 
in the wrong way. The Lord in his infinite mercy direct you in this great 
work, if it be his blessed will that no more innocent blood be shed. I would 



APPENDIX. Xm 

humbly beg of 3-ou, that your liouors would be pleased to examine these 
afflicted persous strictly, and keep them apart some time, and likewise to try 
some of these confessing witches, I being confident there arc several of them 
have belied themselves and others, as will appear, if not in this world, I am 
sure in the world to come, whither I am going ; and I question not tint 
yourselves will see an alttu-ation in these things. They say myself and others 
have made a league with the devil ; we cannot confess. I know, and the 
Lord he knows, as will shortly appear, they believe me, and so I question 
not but they do others ; the Lord alone, who is the Searcher of all hearts, 
knows, as I shall answer it at the tribunal seat, that I know not the least 
thing of witchcraft ; therefore I cannot, I durst not, belie my own soul. I beg 
your honors not to deny this my humble petition, from a poor innocent per- 
son ; and I question not but the Lord will give a blessing to your endeavors." 

The original of the above petition is still in existence ; and various cir- 
cumstantial evidence makes it highly probable that it was written by the 
petitioner herself. 



NOTE VL— Page 24. 

The statement in the text was derived from a written account drawn up 
by the Rev. Daniel Gould. I have since obtahied the following extract from 
the Mass. Records; — "On the 19th August, 1(556, John Gould, senr., of Tops- 
field, otherwise called Lieut. Gould, was arrested and imprisoned for uttering 
wicked and treasonable language — viz., 'If the country was of his mind, they 
would keep Salem Court with its former magistrates ; and if the country 
would go the rounds, he would make the first, and would go and keep Salem 
Court, and would have his company down to do it.' For this he was im- 
prisoned in Boston jail, and kept there some time, though unwell. He was 
fined £100, and costs of prosecution, and laid under heavy bonds to keep the 
peace." 



NOTE vn. 

Mr. Joshua Cofhn has furnished me with several extracts from the Records 
of the County Court, which show what some of the charges against Mr. Gil- 
bert were. In 1666 he was brought before the Court on a complaint of se- 
dition. The language which he used, both in prayer and sermon, as reported 
by the witnesses, was certainly rather strong. We find, for instance, such 



XIV APPENDIX. 

expressions as the following: — "Christ Jesus should reign, in despite of all the 
devil's kings, do what they would." "God hath deceived us. Wee looked 
for glorious days in England, Scotland, Ireland, for days of reform, but be- 
hold a crooked Providence hath crost our expectation. God hath befooled us 
all." "He in prayer begged of God cither to forgive the king this perjury, 
or to give him repentance for it. It is better to live here poore, and to live 
in the wilderness, being covenant keepers, than to sit on the throne, and be 
covenant breakers. He begged of God to convert the king and the royal family 
for their superstition and idolatry." What was the decision of the Court in 
this case does not appear. He was probably let off easily. In 1670 he was 
again arraigned on a charge of intemperance. The witnesses were, Sarah 
Gould, the wife, undoubtedly, of the brave old Captain John ; Isaac Comings, 
senr., and Joanna Towne. The last was in Mr. Gilbert's favor. The testi- 
mony is quite minute, and relates only to a single case. This, however, was 
sadly disgraceful. He went into the pulpit in a disordered state, which he 
betrayed by the confusion of his thoughts, and the clipping of his words, and 
especially by forgetting the order of the exercises. First he prayed, then 
sung, then prayed again, and again sung ; and so might have gone on inde- 
finitely, had not Isaac Comings risen, and begged him to stop. 



NOTE VIII. 

AsAHEL Huntington was born in Franklin, Ct., March 17, 1761. His pa- 
ternal ancestors were among the earliest settlers of Norwich, to which Frank- 
lin originally belonged. His grandfather, Dea. Christopher, died at an ad- 
vanced age, leaving four sons, Christopher, Theophilus, Elisha, and Barnabas. 
The last, a deacon also, was the father of Asahel. He was an active and 
influential patriot of the Revolution, and died 1787, aged 59, highly respected 
for his moral worth. The maiden name of Mr. H.'s mother, was Anne Wright. 
She was born in 1752, and lived to be nearly a hundred years old. Her cha- 
racter as a woman and a Christian was one of great excellence. The sons 
of this worthy couple, were Barnabas, Azariah, Asahel, Hezekiah, and Gur- 
don, all now dead. Two daughters yet live, very old. The paternal estate in 
Franklin has descended lineally from the original settler, Christopher, and is 
now owned by a son of Azariah. 

The subject of this notice, thus born and brought up, made an early pro- 
fession of religion, which he illustrated and adorned through life. Having re- 
solved to devote himself to the work of the ministry, he prosecuted his stu- 
dies, preparatory for college, under the tuition of his pastor, the Rev. Sam- 
uel Nott. This venerable man — this relic of a former age — yet survives ; and 



APPENDIX. XV 

though nearly a hundred years old, is still minister of the same church and 
people. Mr. Huntington was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1780. The 
valedictory oration, then deemed the first of Collegiate honors, was pronounced 
by him. In the class where he stood so well, there were several who be- 
came eminent. It is sufficient to enumerate Judge Goddard, of Norwich, Ct. ; 
Hon. Charles Marsh, of Woodstock, Vt. ; Rev. Dr. Strong, of Randolph, Mass. 

As Theological Seminaries were then unknown, Mr. H. pursued his profes- 
sional studies under private direction. The Rev. Dr. Backus, of Somers, Ct., 
a divine, and instructor of the highest eminence, was his first teacher. He 
concluded his studies under the Rev. Dr. Hart, of Preston, now Griswold, 
Ct. On the 13th of November, 1789, he was ordained over the Church and 
Society of Topsfield. Dr. Hart preached the ordination sermon. 

Here, for nearly twenty-four years, flowed on the even and useful tenor of 
his days. With a people not particularly easy to please, he lived in unbro- 
ken harmony. He was orthodox in his opinions, but was too discreet to 
urge them with offensive pertinacity. His preaching was plain, sensible, and 
practical. His whole intercourse with his flock was so marked by social ease, 
by benevolent solicitude, and by judicious kindness, that he secured their 
warmest love, as well as esteem. His instructions were not confined to the 
pulpit. Compelled by the straitncss of his income, and the wants of a grow- 
ing family, he occasionally taught the town school. For several years be- 
fore his death, he received into his family pupils from abroad. With what 
fidelity and ability he acquitted himself in this relation, many still remember. 
The language of aflectionate veneration with which, at the late celebration, 
Judge Cummins and Mr. Benjamin A. Gould, recalled the name and virtues 
of their earliest teacher, will not soon be forgotten by the hundreds who lis- 
tened to those glowing words of praise and gratitude. 

In the midst of his strength and usefulness, this truly good man was sud- 
denly cut down. He died of the malignant sore throat, April 22d, 1813, after 
an illness of four days. The funeral sermon was preached to a weeping au- 
dience by his intimate, and long-tried friend. Rev. Isaac Braman, of New 
Rowley, who still lives, a venerable octogenarian. This discourse was pub- 
lished, and, in connection with it, an unfinished sermon of Mr. Huntington, 
written on the very day he was seized with his last sickness. It was from 
the text ; " Be ye also ready ; for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son 
of Man cometh." 

Mr. Huntington was married in 1791, to Alethea Lord, of Pomfrot, Ct. 
The union was most happy, and was blessed by five children. Of these, 
Alethea died the year after her father. Hezekiah died in 1828, and Mary Ann 
in 1836. The survivors are Elisha Huntington, M. D., of Lowell, and Asahel 
Huntington, Esquire, of Salem — gentlemen well known in Massachusetts, and 
widely esteemed. 



XVI APPENDIX. 

MRS. ALETHEA HUNTINGTON. 

[From an Obituary Notice in the Puritan Recorder.] 
" This excellent lady died at the residence of her son, Dr. Elisha Hunting- 
ton, of Lowell, Aug. 31, 1850, in the 84th year of her age. Mrs. H. was 
the daughter of Dr. Elisha Lord, of Pomfret, Ct., a distinguished physician, 
and a man of uncommon worth. In 1791, she was married to Rev. Asahel 
Huntington. In 1813, her lamented husband closed his useful life by a peace- 
ful death, leaving a name still precious to many hearts. Mrs. H. was after- 
wards called to bury three of her adult children. Thus was her path marked 
with sorrow. It pleased the Lord, having once cast her into the furnace of 
affliction, to keep her there during the thirty-seven years of her widowhood. 
But she never complained. Meekly bowing to the stroke of divine chastise- 
ment, she endeavored to bring her spirit into harmony with that of her 
Heavenly Father. She was, indeed, remarkable for the calmness with which 
she met the heaviest shocks of adversity. 

" Mrs. H. was particularly happy in her relation to the church and people 
of Topsfield. There was a blending of dignity and gentleness in her person, 
that prepossessed every one in her favor. Her intercourse with the people 
was marked by prudence, kindness, and condescension, — by a lively sympathy 
in their joys and sorrows, — and by many self-denying labors, to do good among 
them. The writer knows not that she ever had an enemy — he is certain that 
she had many friends. Through all her earthly pilgrimage it was the aim of 
this excellent woman to live not unto herself Her own comforts, and even 
wants, were often forgotten in self-denying efforts for the good of others. It 
was her pleasure to nurse the sick and minister to the afflicted, and many 
living witnesses gratefully recall her fearless and faithful devotion to them in 
the hour of suffering and danger. 

" In the closing scenes of her life, there were the calmness and peace, 
if not the triumphs of Christian faith. Her remains were deposited in the 
burying-ground at Topsfield, by the side of that dust, over which she had so 
many times shed, during her long widowhood, the tears of fond remem- 
brance. 

" Thus has passed away one more of a most interesting circle of sisters 
— lovely in life, happy in the experience and the prospect of death. Three 
are in Heaven ; two yet linger on these mortal shores. How soon will they 
all be gathered into a happier family than they ever made before ! Many 
sweet songs of Zion have they sung here ; but there they will sing the 
sweeter song of Moses and the Lamb." 




FBUM J MINRrur.F BY &. FBERMAN" 



MEg.. ALETHJBA MUWTHNI^T®!^ . 



APPENDIX. XVII 

After the death of Mr. Huntington, Topsfiekl remained without a settk-d 
minister for more than seven years. The people were divided, and the spirit 
of party was often warm and high. After several unsuccessful attempts, the 
church and society, in 1820, united upon the Rev. Rodney G. Dennis. Mr 
D., a graduate of Bowdoin College and of the Andover School, held his othce 

about eight and a half years, when he was dismissed, at his own request. 

The Rev. James F. McEwen was installed in 1830. Mr. McE. was born 
1793, at East Hartford, Ct., and graduated at Hanover in 1823. He was, for 
a short time, settled at Bridport, Vt. He is still kindly remembered in Tops- 
field, as a man of good sense and excellent character, whose faithful labors 
there were highly prospered. After his dismission, Mr. McE. was settled again 

in Rye, N. H. He died in Brattleboro', Vt., April 14, 1850. The present 

very acceptable minister. Rev. Anson McLoun, is from Hartford, Ct. He gra- 
duated at Yale College, 1838, — at Andover Tlieol. Sem., 1841, and was or- 
dained Dec. 8, in the same year. 

For 174 years from its incorporation, the whole town formed one ecclesi- 
astical society. In consequence, however, of important changes in the law, 
and of still more important changes in the notions and habits of the people, 
an alteration became necessary. This was effected in 1824, by an act of In- 
corporation, creating the Congregational Parish of Topsfield. A Methodist 
Episcopal Society was organized in 1830. The house erected in 1831 for its 
use, was removed in 1841 to its present location. The preachers, from 1831 
to 1850, have been as follows : Rev. Messrs. R. D. Easterbrooks ; Thomas 
Stedson ; David Culver ; H. B. Skinner ; G. F. Pool ; G. W. Bates ; Ches- 
ter Field; L. B. Griffin; Amos Walton; Z. B. C. Dunham; S. J. P. CoU- 
yer ; M. P. Webster; John Poulson ; Wm. R. Stone, and K. Atkinson. 
About one-fifth of the population are connected with this society. 



NOTE IX.— Page 46. 

Topsfield is now divided into four school districts. The rude, red structures 
of the last century, have, within a few years, been supplanted by neat and 
commodious school-houses. In 1828, the Topsfield Academy was established, 
and for several years was well sustained. In the following list of those who 
have successively taught this school, will be found several names of well- 
established reputation. They arc Francis Vose ; E. D. Sanborn ; Alfred Pike ; 
Benjamin Greenleaf; Asa Farwell ; William F. Kent; Edmund K. Slafter ; 
B. 0. Marble ; O. Quiniby ; Joseph E. Noyes ; Kinsman Atkinson. 



APPENDIX. 



NOTE X.— Page 47. 



Nehemiah Cleaveland was the youngest son of Rev. John Cleaveland, of 
Ipswich. The latter was born 1722, in Canterbury, Ct. His father's name 
was Josiah. His grandfather, Josiah, one of the first settlers of Canterbury, 
was a native of Woburn, Mass. To the place last mentioned came, from 
Ipswich, England, while yet a youth, liis great grandfather, Moses. This pa- 
triarch of the name in America, left a large family, whose descendants have 
multiplied and widely spread. The Rev. Mr. Cleaveland was a man of great 
energy, ardor, and goodness, and a Christian patriot of the highest stamp. 
Repeatedly, at his country's call, he went as a chaplain in her armies, to 
scenes of conflict and danger. In 1758, he was in Abercrombie's unsuccessful 
expedition against Ticonderoga, and in 1759, he accompanied a body of troops 
that went to take possession of Louisburg. In the great strife, that soon 
after commenced with England, he took the liveliest interest. While it was 
yet a war bf words, and odious enactments, and unarmed resistance, — with 
earnest voice and pen he contended manfully for freedom and right. With 
the first call to arms he again took the field. In 1775, during the siege of 
}3oston — in 1776, on the Connecticut shore, and in 1778, in New- York and 
New-Jersey, he helped to cheer the soldier's heart, and to nerve his arm by 
' many a fervent prayer, and by exhortations full of courage and hope. This 
pious and faithful minister retained to the last, the esteem and affections of 
his little flock, among whom he died on his seventy-seventh birthday, in the 
year 1799. 

His personal labors in the public service were not his only contributions 
to the cause Three of his sons, John, Parker, and Nehemiah, were in the 
army. John, after having served for some time as a lieutenant, re-signed his 
commission, studied divinity, and died, 1815, the much-honored mini.ster of 
North Wrentham, Mass. Parker, after a term of service as army surgeon at 
Cambridge, returned to the practice of his profession, in Rowley, (Byfield 
Parish,) where, in 1827, he closed a life of distinguished usefulness. Profes- 
sor Cleaveland — a name identified with the fame and with the entire existence 
of Bowdoin College, in Maine, — and the Rev. Dr. John P. Cleaveland, of Pro- 
vidence, R. I., are his sons. 

The youngest of the above-named brothers first saw something of the 
world, during the memorable summer, autumn and winter of 1775. He was 
then a tall stripling of sixteen years, — and during the siege of Boston, he 
was in attendance upon his father. In 1777 he enlisted in the army, and 
continued in the service for nearly a twelvemonth. The remaining years of 
his minority were spent at home, in hard toil upon his father's little farm. 
When a boy, he had been encouraged to expect a college education, and it 
was the object of his fond desire. But the hardness of the times forbade. He 
was no sooner of age, than he proceeded to make up, so far as he could, 




sf I j)'Ait^nm 



FB.OM A PORTRAIT EY COLE 



I^fflK^lllAll r!,K:ML\vn,MJ. 



APPENDIX, XIX 

under private tuition, his literary deficiencies. Having prosecuted for some 
time the study of medicine, with his brother at Byfiekl, and witli Dr. John 
Manning, of Ipswich, he entered on the practice at Topsfield in 1783. Here 
he found immediate eniployment, though it was neither extensive, nor lucra- 
tive. He soon received a commission as Justice of the Peace, — an office of 
some distinction in those days, and was thus led to engage, to a certain ex- 
tent, in concerns of a civic character. He became known and highly appre- 
ciated as a man of good judgment and prompt business habits, and was much 
employed in the public affairs of town and county. He was a politician, 
likewise, earnest and ardent. In 1811, he was elected by Federal votes to a 
seat in the State Senate. The year following, he failed to be chosen through 
the operation of that famous districting act, known ever since as the Gerryman- 
der law. But in 1815, the Federalists being again in the ascendant, Dr. C. 
was re-elected, and continued to hold the seat until 1819, when he declined 
to be longer a candidate. At that board, around which sat many eminent men. 
he was not indeed a debater. But his good judgment, and sound sense, and 
solid worth, were neither unappreciated, nor unacknowledged. 

In 1814, he was made a Session Justice of the Circuit Court of Common 
Pleas. From 1820 to 1822, ho was Associate Justice of the Court of Sessions 
for Essex County, and in 1823, he was appointed Chief Justice. This station, 
the duties of which he discharged with ability and firmness, he retained un- 
til 1828, when he retired from all public business. In this year he received 
from Harvard University, the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine. 

Dr. C. was twice married. His first wife, Lucy, was the eldest daughter 
of his instructor. Dr. Manning. She died, childless, in 1791, four years after 
their marriage. He was again united to Experience, eldest daughter of Dr. 
Elisha Lord, of Pomfret, Ct. Of nine children by this connexion, five still 
survive. Their mother, a woman venerated and beloved by all, died in 1845. 
Dr. Cleaveland was a well-proportioned man, of large stature and command- 
inir aspect. His constitution was one of iron strength, and his health, up to his 
fiftieth year, was unbroken. From that time he was repeatedly visited with 
sickness, and suffered much from one of the most painful of maladies. His 
medical practice, however, though sometimes interrupted, was not laid aside, 
except that he was compelled to decline night-calls. His declining years, 
though less active, were neither unemployed nor unusefnl. In professional 
visits among the families which had always respected, and which now loved 
and revered him ; in counselling and aiding his neighbors — all of whom, when 
in doubt or difficulty, sought freely his jiulieious advice ; in efforts to ad- 
vance the church and the community to which he immediately belonged ; and 
in contributing to the moral and religious enterprises of the day, — he found suf- 
ficient, and ever-welcome occupation. The intervals in this honoral)le toil, 
were agreeably filled by books, and social converse, and by the duties, com- 
forts, and affections of home. His setting sun went gently down, — while the 



XX APPENDIX. 

brightness of a better day seemed to glow in the departing orb, and left its 
consoling radiance behind. 

Dr. Cleaveland died February 26tli, 1837, being in his seventy-seventh year. 

"Db. John Merriam was born in Concord, Mass., studied medicine in 
Charlton, and was licensed to practise by the Association of Worcester Co. 
He married Hannah Jones, of Charlton — a helpmeet true ; commenced prac- 
tice in Topsfield, 1783, and continued it until 1817, when he died, aged 59. 
He left three children — viz.. Royal Augustus, his successor in the practice, 
and now the only survivor; Frederick J., and Ahiiira. He built and occupied 
the house which still stands at the junction of the Ipswich and Haverhill 
roads. He died of consumption, having been afflicted with disease for more 
than 20 years. Dr. Merriam was an honest man." 

Within the last 25 years, Db. Jeremiah Stone, and Dr. Joseph C. Batch- 
Ei^DEB, practised medicine in Topsfield, each for about a dozen years. Dr. B. 
succeeded Dr. S., and has lately yielded his place to Dr. Charles P. Feench. 



NOTE XL— Page 48. 

Charles Holmes, Esq., is a son of the late Hon. John Holmes, well known 
in Maine and Massachusetts as a lawyer and politician, and for many years 
a prominent member of the U. S. Senate. 



NOTE XII.— Page 53. 

Tlie following extract from Capt. Gould's journal, has been furnished me 
by Miss Hannah F. Gould : — 

"Soon after this, (the battle of Lexington,) I enlisted as Sergeant in Capt. 
John Baker's Company, Col. Moses Little's Regiment, and marched to Cam- 
bridge. On the 17th of June, was ordered on guard at Lechmere's Point. 
Colonel Asa Whitcomb commanded the guard. After the battle had com- 
menced some time, the guard was ordered to reinforce the troops on the Hill ; 
but when we got on the Neck, we met them retreating, yet kept on till we 
met Gen. Putnam, (with tent on his horse behind him,) who spoke to Col. 
Whitcomb, and he retreated. 

While on the Neck, the enemy fired on us from the ship that was in Charles 
River, and the floating batteries came up Mystic River, within small gun-shot 
of us. Col. Whitcomb took me in front of him, a little to the left. He 



APPENDIX. XXI 

placed me in a situation for them to take aim at. The first shot struck the 
ground a little before mc, and rebounded, and as it passed, struck my mus- 
ket in my hand. The second struck the ground directly against my feet. The 
third struck in the same hole, and made it deeper. I turned my eyes to the 
guard, and found them retreating. I was the last man on the Neck. As I 
returned, I got through a fence on my right, seeing the ground more favora- 
ble to cover me — the ridge the Charlestown Hotel now stands on, — and when 
I had gone about a rod, I saw the flash of their guns, and dropped to the 
ground. The ball passed over my back, and struck a little beyond me. I re- 
turned to the guard, and found them all safe." 

(While reading the above narrative, I scarcely know which most to admire, 
— the extraordinary coolness with which this Col. Whitcomb set his sergeant 
up as a mark for the enemy to shoot at, — or the coolness, more extraordinary 
still, with which Sergeant Gould stood and took their fire.) 

•' In the year 1780, there was a draft of men called for to reinforce the 
garrison at West Point. Col. Wade, of Ipswich, was ordered to take the com- 
mand of a regiment, and I was ordered to take command of a company in 
it. We arrived there aI)out the last of .lunc. Soon after I was ordered to the 
main-guard, it being a captain's guard. From the orders I received from the 
Captain whom I relieved, and what I saw on the Point, I thought that all 
was not right. The two sentinels were to load their guns, and when relieved, 
to change them with the sentry who relieved them, so that the guard would 
all have strange pieces, and we should, in case of attack, be thrown into the 
utmost confusion, our guns being of different bores, and our men having had 
their cartridges made to suit them. We had a large box of cartridges allow- 
ed us in case we .should be attacked. I knocked it open and found nothing in 
it but pistol cartridges ; upon which I sent secretly and got a box of good 
ones at Col. Lamb's quarters. The next day, Capt. Pealiody of the .same regi- 
ment, who had lived with me in the same barrack on the Point, and Dr. 
Dinsmore, of Lancaster, surgeon of the regiment from Worcester county, were 
appointed in general orders to inspect the forage that was brought on the 
Point. The Doctor and my father were old acquaintances, having been re- 
presentatives together in the General Court a number of years. He found me 
out, and called to see me, and we in confidence opened our miiuls to each 
other, respecting our critical situation. The appointment of a Surgeon to such 
an office did not lessen our suspicions. We could not find a safe opportu- 
nity to send to Gen. Washington, and he being expected on the Point in a 
few days, we thought best to wait until he sliould arrive. No dou])l Arnold's 
spies had watched us. In a few days Arnold sent for me to take tea with 
him at Col. Lamb's quarters, his head being on this side of the river. He 
told me that he wanted a building erected for the benefit of the garrison in 



XXII APPENDIX. 

the winter, and wished me to make a draft of one — which I did, so as to 
put the potatoes in the lower story, and dry vegetables in the upper. He ap- 
peared much pleased with it. The next morning there was a draft of fatigue- 
men ordered out under my command, to go down the river several miles to 
fix the ground for this building. That day vvhile we were at work he (Arnold) 
went on board a British ship that lay in the river, and Andre was brought on 
the Point. General Washington arrived also that night. I was ordered, with a 
number of other officers, to watch with Andre. He appeared much of a gentle- 
man, and conversed freely with us, but no allusion was made to his particular 
situation. When we took supper, we thought he did not eat with as good a 
relish as we did. All the circumstances I have mentioned, and seeing the cannon 
dismounted, and new carriages making, and men sent out to cut wood and tim- 
ber, so that we had scarcely enough to man our guards, put me in mind of what 
my father [said] when Arnold was appointed Colonel to go to Canada, He said : 
"I'm sorry for it." I asked him, why 1 "Because," said he, "he's so avaricious 
that he would sell his country for money." 

" Arnold was in the Commissary's Department in the French war, and my father 
being a member of the General Court, was concerned in settling his accounts, — 
when he found him a very avaricious, and, as he thought, unprincipled man. We 
did not see Andre executed, our time of service being out before that took 
place." 



NOTE XHI.— Page 55. 

Capt.4.in Gould, soon after the restoration of peace, was married to Grizzel 
Apthorp, daughter of Gershom Flagg, Esq., of Boston. For a few years, he re- 
sided in Lancaster, Ms., as a country-trader. Here his children were born. In 
1805 he returned to Topsfield, and lived there about three years. He then re- 
moved to Newburyport, and there spent the residue of his life. Three of hi.s 
children, John Flagg, Grizzel Apthorp, and Gershom F., are no more. Of the 
survivors, Esther is the wife of Judge Fuller, of Augusta, Me. — Elisabeth, now 
Mrs. Rapello, lives in New- York. — Benjamin Apthorp, even before his graduation 
at Harvard College in 1814, was appointed Master of the Public Latin School of 
Boston. Under his administration, this old and honored institution soon rose to 
a height of excellence and classic fame, which it had not before equalled, and 
has not since surpassed. For many years, Mr. Gould has been largely engaged 
in navigation and mercantile pursuits. One of his sons, Benjamin A., after hav- 
ing spent several years abroad, at the best Observatories — and under the instruc- 
tion of great European Astronomers, — is now a resident of Cambridge, Mass., 
where he conducts the " Astronomical Journal," a work which has already at- 
tained to a high reputation. 

In this enumeration, one yet remains. To all the lovers of song, the name of 
Hannah F. Gould has long been familiar. For nearly a quarter of a century her 



APPENDIX. XXIir 

annual contributions of occasional poetry have been read with pleasure. She has. 
indeed, attempted no extended or elaborate work. Her muse, as if unambitious 
of loftier heights, seems content to plaj' about the flowery base and gentler de- 
clivities of the Aonian mount. In her best productions there are many touches of 
nature, and graceful beauties enlivened, not seldom, by a genuine humor. Though 
often playful, her playfulness is never spoilt by levity. No less conspicuous is her 
tenderness — breathed, not in morbid^sighs, but in the tones of a true sympathy 
or of a genial sadness. The moral and religious spirit which pervades and 
sanctifies her poetry, is ever gentle, and pure. Her writings have been, from 
time to time, collected, and now constitute three thin volumes. Some of her 
smaller, and especially of lier earlier pieces, are nearly, if not quite perfect 
in their way, and have attained, beyond all doubt, to a permanent place in our 
literature. In "The Scar of Lexington — "The Veteran and the Child'' — and, 
particularly, in " My Lost Father," — Miss Gould has beautifully embalmed the 
image and the virtues of that brave and meek old man, whose long decline 
was cheered by her unceasing care. For many a year she was his solace 
and his sole companion,— and when her fond solicitude could no longer keep 
his spirit from the sky, she dropped on the cold clay her "melodious tears,"' 
and planted an undying laurel by his grave. 



NOTE XIV.— Page 58. 

Fr.\ncis Pabodv settled first in Ipswich, where he owned, in 1630, " a lot 
of planting ground, near labor in vain." This fact, not mentioned by Endi- 
cott, I give on the authority of A. Hammatt, Esq., of Ipswich — so well known 
as a zealous and accurate archaBolooist. 



NOTE XV.— Page 6.5. 

Among the posterity of Elltah Porter, besides the cbildren of Hannah Breck 
one of whom has been already mentioned, (p. 65,) may aIso be named the de- 
scendants of her brother Thomas. This gentleman, who held a military com-, 
nuind in the first years of the revolution, married Ruth .Vllen, of Salem. The 
late Dr. Elijah Porter, of Salem and Brooklyn, was their .son. Their daugh- 
ter M.iry, born in Topsfield, married Seth Low, Esq., formerly a respected 
inhabit.int of Salem, Mass., and for many years past an influential citizen of 
Brooklyn, N. Y. Mrs. Ruth Porter died a .sliort time since, aged 90, at the 
house of her son-in-law. This charming old lady lived to see around her a 
numerous and pro.sperous race, and certainly could fi.'el, as she looked upon 



APPENDIX, 



them, that some, at least, of the Porter family, had effectually fought their 
way out of " Blind Hole," 



NOTE XVI.— Page 68. * 

The southern portion of the house which my father owned and occupied 
for almost fifty years, was by him regarded as one of the oldest erections in 
the place. The grounds of this opinion I am unable to state, but I feel sure 
that he did not adopt it without good reasons. Notwithstanding the numerous 
alterations and additions which have modified the original structure, portions 
of the ancient oak frame are yet visible. 

The dwelling-house in which Lawyer Wildes was born and died, shows 
indubitable evidences of antiquity. It was, perhaps, built by the old surveyor, 
John Wilds. The spot was undoubtedly one of the earliest clearings in New 
Meadows, being in the immediate vicinity of the first house of worship. In 
this rude abode, I have no doubt, were entertained those sixteen sons and 
daughters, who, from homes far and widely distant, all assembled upon one 
occasion, beneath the old roof-tree. That must have been a joyous thanksgiv- 
ing — though it is a little puzzling to conceive how they were all accommoda- 
ted. The house is much dilapidated. I visited and explored the ruinous edi- 
fice in company with Mr. H. N. Perkins, of Boston — who is descended from a 
Wildes. It is not to be supposed that a true antiquarian— as he is — could 
visit such a scene of ancestral interest and modern neglect, without many 
sighs of filial regret, and some groans of honest indignation. I can bear tes- 
timony to the pious devotion with which he took a long draught from the old 
patriarch's well. 



NOTE XVII.— P.uiE 70. 

I devote this note to several matters of a miscellaneous character. 

The first publicly educated native of Topsfield, I suppose to have been 
Ivory Hovcy. The Hovey family, no longer found in the place, was un- 
doubtedly respectable — the name occurring often and honorably in the town 
records. Ivory, born in 1714, graduated at Cambridge in 1735, and was settled 
over the second parish of Rochester, Ms. Here, for twenty-five years he 
preached the gospel, and practised medicine. In 1770, he was installed at 
Monument Ponds, in Plymouth, where he died in 1803. He left a journal — 
the daily record of his feelings for sixty-five years, amounting to seven thousand 
pages in short-hand. But he left also something better, namely, the memo- 
ry of a long, pious, and useful life. 

Nathaniel Porter, Hair,. 1768; see Address, p. 65. Sylvanus Wildes, Harv. 1777 

Samuel Balch, Harv. 1782. He became a teacher, and lived in Amesbury. 

Daniel Gould, Harv. 1782 ; referred to in the Address. He was settled in 



APPENDIX. XXV 

Bethel and in Rumford, Me. Jacob Kimball, Harv. 1788, see Address. 

Isaac Averill, Brown, 1795. Mr. A. died young and suddenly, just as he was 

on the point of being settled in the ministry. David Cummins, Dart. 1806. 

Mr. C. was, for many years, a successful practitioner of law in Salem. For 
many years more, he was an honored and acceptable Judge in the Circuit Court 

of Common Pleas. Ho is now a resident of Dorchester. Royal A. Mer- 

riam, Dart. 1808 ; vid. Address. Asa W. Wildes, Dart. 1809 ; for several 

years Master of the Newburyport Grammar School, but now and for a long 

time past, one of the Essex Commissioners for Highways. Israel Balcht Dart. 

1811 ; physician in Salisbury. Nehemiah Cleavcland, Boicd. 1813. Ebenezer 

Perkins, Dart. 1814 ; long a Clergyman in Royalston, and still living there. 

Josiah Lamson, Harv. 1814; physician in Essex. Elisha Huntington, Dart. 

1815; physician. Dr. H. was for several years Mayor of Lowell, which, during 
Ills abode there, has grown from a mere village, to be the second city in 

the state. Asahel Huntington, Yale, 1819 ; a successful Advocate in Salem, 

and for many years past, County Attorney. John Cleaveland, Boicd. 1826, 

Counsellor at Law in the city of New- York. Jonas Merriarn, Buicd. 1826 ; 

now a preacher in Barnard, Me. David Peabody, Dart. 1828; see Address. 

Elisha L. Cleavcland, Boiml. 1829 ; pastor of a Congregational Church in 

New-Haven, Ct. Josiah Peabody, Dart. ; now at Erzroom, in Turkey, as a mis- 
sionary to the Armenians. Cyrus Cummings, Dart.; (Jounsellor at Law, Boston. 

Jacob Batchelder and John Batchelder, of Lynn ; Daniel P. Galloup, of 
Salem ; Perley Balch, of Lowell ; are natives of Topsfield, and successful 
teachers of public schools in the cities where they reside. 

In my short account of the medical men, I omitted the name of the late 
■ Doctor' Pike. I hasten to repair the unintentional injury. When, how, or 
where, the 'Doctor' practised, I never exactly knew. It is certain that he had 
given some attention to the important science of Hygieine, — for his opinion in 
regard to the diet which is, at least, .^rt/f for swine, is still remembered and 
quoted, and has never been controverted. Judging from his courtly demeanor, 
it seems not improbable that he was, in some early, and now unknown period of 
iiis life, the Physician in Ordinary at the Palace of King Perkins. 

Smith — that multitudinous name, occurs in the first enumeration of Topsfield 
Commoners. During the second third of the last century, it was illustrated by 
an individual of some note. Samuel Smith, Esquire, was a justice of tin; peace, 
and often held the place of town magistrate or agent. But the Smiths gradually 
died out, or departed — and tiiis universal name is no longer of Topsfield. 
Among the latest lingerers was one Asaiiel Smith, who removed, a!)Out 1793, 
to Tunbridge, in Vermont. This man, like " xVmmon's great son, one shoulder 
had too high ;'" and thence usually bore the significant and complimentary de- 
signation of "Crook-necked Smith." He was so free in his opinions on re- 
ligious subjects, that some regarded his sentiiiienls as more distorted tlian his 
neck. When he went to Vermont, a son, Joseph, then 8 or 10 years old. 



XXVI APPENDIX. 

accompanied him. In process of time, Joseph was married, and had children, 
among whom was one bearing his own name, and destined to make no 
small noise in the world. When Joseph Smith, allured by the star of west- 
ern emigration, left Tunbridge, with his family, he little suspected that he 
had a young Mohammed in that omnibus wagon, which conveyed him and his 
household. The wagon stopped at Potsdam, in St. Lawrence Co., N. Y. — 
then a new settlement. Here, upon the banks of the noisy river Racket, 
whose spirit seems to have entered into his soul — grew up the celebrated 
founder of the Mormon faith. 

I shall not pursue the story of Joe Smith. Famous, or infamous, he was 
no common man. His name is inseparably connected with the origin and 
history of a numerous and remarkable sect. When Biography shall hereafter 
seek to trace him to his source, among the thousand genealogical lines of 
Smithdom, it may save her some trouble, to be told that Joe's ancestors were 
Topsfield people — that his father was born there — and that some of the Goulds 
and the Balches of this old town, still claim kindred with the "Prophet." 

The rise of Mormonism is one of the wonders of our day. What, but 
strong enthusiasm, impelling from within, and a fiery persecution, pressing 
from without, could have driven a people numbering many thousands, to seek 
a safe home, in the far-distant, and almost impenetrable wilderness 1 When 
we were told that they had pitched their pilgrim tents upon the remote bor- 
ders of the Great Salt Lake, how little did we dream, that they had gone thither 
to build — unwittingly indeed — a half-way house— ra grand caravansery — for the 
refreshment of a hundred thousand of our countrjanen, soon to be on their 
way to the Pacific shore ! Who will deny that there were an oversight and 
a wisdom here, far beyond the reach of mortal ken ! Let us not despair, 
even of the Mormons. Left as they are to themselves, may we not reason- 
ably expect that the developed absurdity of a wild fanaticism will prove its 
own corrective^ May we not confidently hope that the. strong native sense of 
the Anglo-American will, at lengih, prevail, and bring back to the faith and 
practice of a pure Christianity, these victims of delusion 1 

Hood has been a Topsfield name since 1712. In that year, Nathaniel Hood 
came from Lynn, and settled in the N. AV. angle of the town. His father, 
Richard, was from Lynn, in England. They were Quakers, and sometimes 
suffered in consequence of their religious scruplcs^though I am not aware 
that any of them were hung. John was the youngest son of Nathaniel, and 
the father of John and Samuel, whom we all knew so well. 

The name of Towne occurs conspicuously, though with a melancholy in- 
terest, in the Address, (p. 21.) The descendants of William Towne, still some- 
what numerous in Topsfield, have also spread themselves far and wide. John, 
son of Jacob, s. of William, is the earliest ascertained emigrant. At the first 
own-meeting held in Framingham, 1700, he was chosen a select-man. Thir- 



APPENDIX. XXVII 

teen years later, he and his sons, Ephraim and Israel, are found amoncr the 
thirty families that began the settlement of Oxford. Here, too, he was a select- 
man, town-clerk, and deacon. The Hon. Salem Towne, of Charlton, in "Wor- 
cester Co., who died in 1825, and his son. Gen. Salem Towne, who, in the 
war of 1812, conunanded the militia ordered out for the defence of Boston, 
descended from the Oxford settler. Another Salem Towne, well known in 
Western New- York, — and honorably distinguished in the cause of education ; — 
the Kev. Josiah Towne, of Batavia, 111.; Rev. Abner Towne; and the late 

William M. Towne, Esq., are of the same good stock. Jesse Towne, born 

in Topsfield, 1697, became in 1725 one of the proprietors of Arundel, in 
Maine. His younger brother Amos was with Sir\^'m. Pepperell at the first capture 
of Louisburg, and from him have sprung some of the best families in the town 

— (now Kennebunk Port.) Elisha Towne, born 1706, removed to Boxford, and 

was the ancestor of the Rev. Joseph H. Towne, a popular clergyman, formerly of 
Boston, now of Lowell. Josiah Towne, born 1701, went to Killingly, Ct., and 
from him came Ithiel Towne, of New-Haven, well known as an architect 

and virtuoso. Individuals of this name from Topsfield, were among the early 

settlers of Amherst, Keene, and Rindge, in New-Hiunpshire, and of Stur- 
bridge, Sutton, and Adams, in Massachusetts. In fact, the Topsfield Townes 
have actually been tracked into two thirds of the states in this Union. Mr. 
William B. Towne, of Boston, has an account of two hundred families, very 

few of which belong to the present generation. 1 should do injustice to this 

name, if I should omit to mention here, the late Jacob Towne, Es([., of Tops- 
field. For year.s — I know not how many — this excellent individual held the 
offices of town-clerk, select-man, and representative to the General Court, — 
until he came, at length, to be regarded as a sort of personification of his be- 
loved Topsfield. He was the calmest, the most deliberate, the most cautious 
of men. If he ever uttered a hasty word, or did a rash act, I never heard 

of it. If ever there were a true conservative, it was Jacob Towne, jun. 

He, alas ! is gone. But it is some consolation, that, faithful to the ancient 
rule and privilege of primogeniture, he transmitted so large a share of his 
own careful spirit to the present custodian of the Topsfield archives. 

I made, last summer, several unavailing eflibrts to obtain some authentic 
account of the Cummings family. Its founder, Isaac, was among the thirty 
commoners. Judge Cummins, in his dinner speech at the Celebration, gave a 
conjectural explanation of his own descent, which, if not convincing, was, at 
least, amusing. One individual of the name, C.\pt.4in Joskph Cummings, de- 
serves special mention. He was born in Woburn, in 101J2, and at the age of 
twelve went to Ipswich, near the border of Topsfield, to live with an uncle. This 
uncle, whose name was Howlet, was an extensive land-owner, and gave his 
nephew, when of age, 500 of his unsubdued acres. The land proved to be 
excellent, and became exceedingly valuable. Here the fortunate and industrious 
possessor lived to extreme age, and, long before his death, had seen the family 



XXVIII APPENDIX. 

and the property of his kind patron all scattered to the winds. Captain C. and 
several of his neighbors, in consequence of their remoteness from Ipswich 
Village, early sought to be annexed to Topsfield. In this, they were opposed 
by Ipswich, and it was not until after many years of disappointment, that 
they succeeded. With physical energies scarcely impaired, and with a mental 
vigor not perceptibly abated. Captain Cummings lived to the age of one hun- 
dred and two. Even after he had completed his ' orb' of years, he could 
mount his horse, unaided, from the ground, and ride many miles. To the last, 
his memory was strong and exact — his judgment clear and sound — his retorts, 
equally quick and keen. He had a son and a daughter. The latter married a 
Lamson and removed to Exeter, N. H., and gave rise to a numerous posterity. 
Through the son, the old man had eleven grand-children, and one hundred 
and two great grand-children : the most of whom he lived to see. Among the 
latter, is my friend of earlier days, the Rev. Asa Cummings, of Portland, Me., 
— the well known and widely esteemed Editor of the " Christian Mirror." 

I regret that I have not the means to give some account of several other 
families — old in standing, and, for the most part, as respectable as they are 
old. I can only allude to the long-familiar names of Andrews, Averill, Balch, 
Baker, Batchelder, Bixby, Boardman, Clark, Conant, Hobbs, Kimball, Lamson, 
Lake, Rea, Wildes, &c. It is to be hoped that some of these ancient fam- 
ilies will become so far imbued with the new-awakened spirit of genealogical 
inquiry, as to look up, and place on record, before it is too late, their own history. 

The present Congregational Meeting House was erected in 1842, — occupy- 
ing the same site with that of its predecessors of 1703 and 1759. It is a 
smaller edifice than the one which it replaced — but comfortable, and good-look- 
ing, with the exception of its steeple. In 1759, the town passed a formal vote, 
that the building then to be erected should have " a perportionable spire." 
This laudable example does not seem to have been followed. 

The Indian name She-ne-we-me-dy, was given at the time of the Celebration 
with a slight difference of spelling — the second and third syllables having 
changed places. I so put the word on the authority of the Rev. Mr. Felt, 
who assured me that he received it from Mr. Coffin. I give the present ortho- 
graphy on the authority of Mr. Coffin himself. Ipse dixit. 

The town of Topsfield occupies the centre of Essex County. The road 
from Salem to Haverhill passes through it, as does, also, that obsolete affair, 
the Newburyport Turnpike. Hills of considerable magnitude, rising on the north 
and north-east — the south and south-west — enclose a pleasant valley of mod- 
erate dimensions. From any of these heights, and especially from that called 
River Hill, the eye may rove over a landscape of considerable extent, or may 
repose, with pleasure, on the quiet scene immediately below. The Topsfield 
vale presents a simple picture of rural beauty. Its little hamlet of white 
tenements not ungracefully disposed, wears that air of cheerfulness and com- 
fort, which characterizes a thriving New-England village. The summits and 



APPENDIX. XXIX 

declivities around, efiectualiy redeem the scene from taineness, but wovdd cer- 
tainly be more pleasing if still adorned, in part, with their old jrarniture of 
trees. The bright, meandering river skirts the northern base of the hills, and 
binds, as with a silver braid, the green mantle of the plain. 

The soil of the Topsfield hills is generally strong and good, but rather 
hard to work. The more easily tilled plains have lost, to some extent, their 
original fertility. Meadows of varying width, which are sometimes overflowed, 
border on the river, and produce a coarse grass, generally of little value. Ips- 
wich River rises in Wilmington. Through its entire course in Topsfield it 
has no available fall, but it is made to do the work of Peabody's Paper Mill, 
just before it enters the town, and of Maiming's Woollen Mill, almost as soon 
as it leaves it. 

The population of Topsfield, according to the census just taken, is 1169. 
Of its 266 voters, 28 bear the name of Perkins, — 20, that of Gould, and 17, 
that of Towne. There are 170 dwelling-houses. The present valuation is 
$545,800. The town appropriated this year, $700 for the support of schools; 
— the whole tax being ^2,998 79. Its aggregate of agricultural products is not 
large. It raises about 5000 bushels of maize, and about twice as many of 
potatoes. Rye, barley, oats, and pulse, are produced in small quantities. The 
hay amounts to about 2,000 tons. Of butter, the annual product is 26,000 lbs. ; — 
of cheese, 4,500 lbs. More than 20,000 animals — mostly sheep and calves — 
are annually killed in Topsfield, and sent to Salem, Lynn, and other markets. 
One hundred and five thousand pairs of shoes, valued at 1*85,000, are made 
in Topsfield in the course of a year. 

There is no rail-road, as yet, within the limits of Topsfield, although more 
than one of these iron tracks approaches so near, that the steam-whistle is 
daily heard in the village. Incipient steps have, I believe, been taken towards 
uniting, by the way of Topsfield, some of these neighboring lines. It is not 
likely that this thriving town will much longer remain destitute of a conve- 
nience, which is everywhere coming to be regarded as essential. When it 
shall thus be brought within an hour of Boston, one more charming retreat 
will be opened for that increasing multitude of sensible persons, who, while 
they continue to do business in cities, prefer to live in the country. There 
is little hazard in predicting that this beautiful township, — thus made known, 
and accessible, too, — will soon become a favorite resort. A spot more 
pleasing in aspect, more quiet, or more salubrious, — cannot easily be found 
within twenty miles of the metropolis. The mechanic's cottage, the tradesman's 
snug tenement, and the merchant's tasteful villa, will j^et add new beauty to that 
fair plain, and those fairer hills. The professional man, or the scholar — who, 
amid the sultry heats and stunning noises of the pent-up town, classically sighs, — 



qui me gelidis in vallibus 
Sistat ! 



« ♦ # * 



XXX APPENDIX. 

will forthwith take his scat in the car, and soon find himself in a vale, which in 
coolness and beauty, Thrace itself could scarce surpass. 

I must bring these notices to an end. Will not some son of Topsfield take 
up and complete the work, which I have hardly begun'! A careful history of 
the town, judiciously compiled, would assuredly be valued by the inhabitants. 
The time is favorable, — for attention has been turned to the subject, — while 
each year of delay will make the task more difficult. 



185 0. 

For the purpose of preservation, and as a matter of future interest, I have 
compiled from the published accounts, a brief sketch of what was done on this 
occasion. The 28th of August had been selected — not as the day on which 
the act was passed — but as being sufficiently near, and as more convenient 
than a later period. Fortunately it proved to be remarkably fine. At 10 o'clock 
a procession was formed on the Common, and marched to the house of Capt. 
Munday, where it was joined by the President and Orator, the Clergy, and 
other invited guests. Having passed under a neatly ornamented arch, the pro- 
cession advanced through a green lane, and over an open lawn to " Centen- 
nial Hill." The side of this verdant and shady mound was found already 
covered to the summit, with a vast throng of men, women, and children. 
Rude but comfortable seats accommodated a portion of the assembly, while the 
rest stood or reclined upon the green-sward. " In front of this great assem- 
blage, stood the speaker's rostrum, upon a small stage. This little structure 
was a most interesting object. Its verdant decorations, beautifully relieved upon 
a oround of spotless white, could be the work only of delicate fingers, 
guided by woman's unerring eye. A scroll above, bore the words 'New 
Meadows, 1639 — Topsfield, 1650.' Directly below, stood an object of no com- 
mon interest — an old oaken pulpit. A white tablet in front, told its story. 
Upon this was written in letters of bright, purple amaranth, the names ' Capen' 
— 'Emerson,' and the dates '1703' — '1759.'" Behind it stood a high-backed 
chair of qak, which had once been its companion piece. 

After an anthem of Kimball's had been sung by the choir, the Rev. Mr. 
Atkinson, of the Methodist Church in Topsfield, read appropriate selections 
from an ancient Bible. The following psalm, composed by Rev. Geo. Hood, 
of Southport, N. Y., and set to music by his brother, Mr. Jacob Hood, of 
Salem — both of them natives of Topsfield, was read by Rev. J. A. Hood, of 
Middletou : 



APPENDIX. 

O all ye people, praise the LorJ, 
For all his matchless love and (rracc ; 
For true and faithful is liis word, 
To all the trihes of Adam's race. 

Amid the bold adventurous host, 
Our Fathers sought this distant land, 
And chose this spot, our pride and boast, 
As home for their true-hearted band. 

With prowling beasts, and savage men, 
In faith and hope, they dauntless stood ; 
Then sung their anthems yet again, 
And rear'd their altars to their God. 

Nerv'd by a living faith, they rose 
O'er ills, and toils, and dangers dire ; 
Disease, nor death, nor savage foes. 
Could quench the fervor of their fire. 

They toil'd and prayed ; we Lord are blest, 
To Thee, God, shall praise be given. 
Prepare us now, by Sovereign Grace, 
To meet our sainted Sires in Heaven. 

There we will render ceaseless praise. 
To Thee our father's, and oin- CioD : 
To Thee, blest Spirit, chant our lays. 
And Thee, Divine, Incarnate, Word. 



The Rev. Mr. McLoud made a short and appropriate prayer. An ode writ- 
ten for the occasion by Miss Hannah F. Crould, was read' by her brother B. 
A. Gould, Esq., and was sung to Kimljall's tune of "Topsfield." 

The wilderness was deep and drear. 

And mind a savage wild ; — 
Chaotic darkness brooded here. 

O'er man, the forest-child. 
The Spirit, by our fathers, moved 

Upon the face of Night ; 
When dawned the Day, that since hath proved 

Two hundred years of light ! 

Then did a new creation glow 

With Order's primal rays, 
While here the sons of God below 

First sang Jehovah's praise. 
The desert opened like a flower 

Unfolding to the sun : 
And great the work, for every hour. 

Two hundred years have done ! 



APPENDIX. 

The earth, beneath the genial sway ^ 

Of Cuhure's wand, unsealed 
The wealth that in her bosom lay, — 

Her quickening powers revealed. | 

But richer — purer-+-unconfined ' 

To time or eartjily sphere, 
The spirit gems — the wealth of mind 

With lineal birthright here. 

Behold the civil beauty shed 

In wide survey around ; — 
The fields, with summer's bounty spread ; — 

The hills with harvest crowned ! 
While finite eye must fail to trace i 

The shining marks of soul, I 

That, dating this its starting-place, 

Has fixed in Heaven the goal ! 

To-day upon the spot we stand 

Where kneeled our Sires of yore, 
Imploring blessings for the land 

When they should be no more. 
To this they bore the ark of God, 

And left it to their heirs : 
They left our Priest the budding rod 

That blossoms now, and bears. 

And while in yonder quiet graves 

Their hallowed ashes rest. 
Their children, moving as the waves. 

Still guard their dear bequest. 
And lo ! in joyous bands we come. 

Our votive wreaths to twine — 
As brethren to a father-home — 

Round Memory's sacred shrine. . 

We come their honored names to bless, — 

Their story to prolong. 
Who startled here the wilderness 

With Zion's pealing song ; 
While, bending o'er the battlement 

Of Heaven, they now behold 
The spot whereto their footsteps bent 

In earthly days of old. 

To that illustrious ancestry 

We'll sing aloud our claim, 
While marching to eternity 

In their Redeemer's name. 



APPENDIX. XXXI 

Two liundrcd years of Gospcl-boams, 

Diffusing joy and peace, 
Have here been poured in swelling streams 

Of glory ne'er to cease ! 

The long address which followed was heard with a degree of attention and 
patience, which could be accounted for only by the good nature of the audience, 
and their interest in the subject. 

The Rev. E. ij. Clcaveland, oi New-Haven, Ct., read the following hymn, 
composed for the occasion by ]iis brother, N. Cleaveland. It was sung, 7nare 
majorum, by the whole assembly, to the majestic measure of Old Hundredth : 

Here, mid the dense, brown, sylvan shade. 
Humltly the banded exiles stood ; 
Here, to the One Supreme they prayed. 
Here, with loud anthoiiis shook the wood. 

Stout were their hearts, and strong their hands, 
And fast the towering forest fell ; 
Soon gleamed the day on cultured lands, 
Soon waved with corn each upland swell. 

Then came the pious task to rear 
Meet shrines. Benignant Power, for Thee : 
Schools free as air were founded here, 
And Law and sacred Liberty. 

O Thou, wliose arm, all-powerful, bore 
Those pilgrims o'er the storm-swept sea. 
And helped them plant along this .shore. 
These homesteads of the brave and free ; 

Here, where our fathers hymned Thy name, 
List to their grateful children's praise, 
And still be ours the heavenly flame, 
That warmed their hearts in olden days. 

The benediction was given by Rev. Samuel Gould, a native ol' Topsfield, 
now of Boothbay, Me. 

During these exercises, the venerable Messrs. Braman of Georgetown, Dana 
of Ncwburyport, and Kimball of Ipswich, were seen gracing the stage with 
their snowy locks, — while below and around it. were many Essex men of 
honored name, both clerical and lay. 

The procession was again formed, and now became, in part, a cavalcade. 

"The long line of respectable citizens, with their wives, and sons, and 
daughters, was garnished near its centre by a singular spectacle. There were 



XXXIV APPENDIX. 

three young men on horseback, dressed in the costume of 1600, each having 
on a pillion behind him, a comely companion, similarly arrayed. Others fol- 
lowed in tri-cornered hats, with vast, bushy wigs, and other articles of anti- 
quated garb. One individual seemed to be on his way to mill, for he had 
on his horse's back two large bags, apparently of corn. Another was evi- 
dently bound for market, being mounted, and having on either side, a large 
pannier. AVe saw one lady, whose costume of antiquated splendor, and whose 
immensely deep bonnet, drew much observation. This antique cavalcade was 
succeeded by an old dobbin of a horse driven by Mr. Edward Hood, draw- 
ing a wagon-load of relics. It contained a side-board, said to have belonged 
to Governor Bradstreet, an ancient oak chest made in 1685, with the original 
date upon it, an old winnowing fan, a large samp mortar, several snow-shoes, 
some of the implements once used in the dressing of flax, and various agri- 
cultural tools, of the most ponderous and uncouth character. 

"The dinner tables were set beneath a pavilion erected on the common. 
Though provision was made for about 800 guests, nearly every seat was oc- 
cupied. This festal board was brightened by the faces of several hundred 
ladies. Directly over the President's chair, we noticed the old Indian name 
of the place, — She-we-ne-me-dy. Beneath this were arranged several articles, 
suggestive of the times, when wild beasts and savages were the sole tenants 
of the Topsfield woods. Two pairs of moose horns ; numerous arrow-heads 
and stone tools of the aborigines — lent by Major Poore of Indian Hill — and a 
long halberd, once carried by a Topsfield officer, in the Indian wars, and 
brought down from Amherst, N. H., by Mr. Peabody, who is one of that 
officer's descendants. 

" Dr. E. Huntington, of Lowell, eldest son of the Rev. Asahel Huntington, 
formerly minister of Topsfield, was the President of the day. The Rev. Asa 
Cummings, of Portland, Me., the descendant of a Topsfield man, craved a 
blessing. When due justice had been done to the liberal provision on the 
table, the President, after a few happy remarks, by way of introduction, pro- 
ceeded to read the regular sentiments." 

The speakers at the table were the Hon. Mr. Upham, of Salem ; Judge 
Cummins, of Dorchester ; Hon. Mr. Dodge, of Hamilton ; Messrs. B. A. Gould, 
of Boston ; N. Cleaveland, of Brooklyn ; Ben Perley Poore, of Newbury ; 
Jacob Batchelder, of Lynn ; H. N. Perkins, of Boston, and Joel Peabody, 
of Topsfield. As there was no reporter present, no satisfactory account of 
what was said can be given. A brief outline of these speeches may be seen 
in the Essex County Mercury of September 4. The immense audience present 
listened to them with deep apparent interest. The following are the first and 
the last of the regular toasts : — • 

"This day of our solemnities: bright with memories of the Past, — with 
contemplations of the Present, — and with hopes of the Future." 



APPENDIX. XXXV 

•' Our country : its population, which in 1650, consisted of a few thousands, 
has swelled to many millions. The small dependent colonies of that day have 
grown into a great nation ; scarcely inferior to any other in numbers and 
power, — second to none in the better elements of prosperity, intelligence, 
good government, and true liberty. In view of a past and present so astound- 
ing, will any imagination venture to conceive what will be the grandeur and 
glory of North America, a century hence ? May prosperity attend the old town 
of Topsfield ! God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and long pre- 
serve the Union." 

During the exercises, the following song, written by Mrs. H. Huntington, of 
Lowell, was recited by the Orator of the Occasion : 

SONG. 

We, the relics of ages, have here met together. 

To say how d'ye do 1 to the past ; 
And to stop for discourse, Sir, Old Time, in his course, Sir. 

Who once, did not travel so fast. 

Then, he'd pause on his walk, just to gossip and talk, 

As he shook a few sands from his glass ; 
Now, he travels by steam, shouting out with a scream, 

"Clear the track, for my engine to pass!" 

Come ! just throw off your steam ; tackle on your old team ; 

And jog on in the foot-path to-day : 
We have met for a "talk;" put your steeds on a walk. 

For, indeed, we've a great deal to say. 

We've no victories to boast, and no heroes to toast. 

Save the victors of ploughshare and flail : 
The weapons we wield, leave no stain on the field. 

And no cheek in our warfare grows pale. 

Well ! as matters of pride, what have we beside 

Our sires, and our sons, and our soil ? 
We have mothers, and wives, the best gift of our lives. 
Sent to soften and cheer all our toil. 

We have no rail-roads here, commanding to " clear 

Off the track, with your cart and your team !" 
No thousand-mile wire comes to us with its fire. 

More fleet than the sun's swiftest beam 

Our brook flows on still, just to carry our mill. 

And our mill, like our swine, is corn-fed ; 
Our girls work with their mothers, and live with their brothers, 

And are to home industry bred. 



XXXVI APPENDIX. 

They bloom and they toil, on their own native soil. 

Shedding beauty and fragrance around, 
And no lovelier display, than we see here to-day, 

Could in court or in city be found. 

'Tis true, they're not drest in their " blue homespun best," 

Once worn more for comfort than show. 
Our fair modern Jenny — is no spinning Jenny, 

And our maids arc no milk-maids, you know. 

Our swains are no more, as their grandsires of yore, 

Clad in home-spun from head to the heel ; 
They have broadcloth for Mondays, as well as for Sundays, 

Without mother to spin or to reel. 

Our boys, too, are shod — but their forefathers trod 

The gi'een-sward with feet bare and free ; 
They could go to a husking without a light buskin, 

Or their trowsers strapped tight o'er the knee. 

They could catch the old mare, and mounting back-bare, 

Trot off to the mill and the store. 
And like Gilpin, would ride, with a jug on each side. 

And a long bag of corn on before. 

They'd a very good rule. Sir, which was taught them at school. Sir, 

Along with their A and their B ; 
When they met with their betters, those small men of letters. 

Had to bend both the head and the knee. 

Time keeps jogging along, while I halt in my song. 

My Pegasus filly goes lame : 
I will take off mi/ weight, he may " gang his ain gate," 

'Tis hard his wild coursers to tame. 

We have had a good meeting, and a right hearty greeting. 

With kinsfolk, acquaintance, and friends : 
So we part not in sadness, but look forward with gladness 

To a meeting that never shall end. 

A quartette, consisting of Messrs. W. R. Hubbard, B. Whitmore, G. H. 
Smith, and M. Horn, sung, with fine effect, the following 

ODE. 

BY MRS. S. D. PEABODY. 

As children long from home away. 

Hail the glad jubilee. 
Which finds them all in fair array. 

Beneath the old roof-tree : — 



APPENDIX, XXXVIJ 

So we to-day rejoicing come, 

Kindred and friends to greet, 
And give affection's tear to some 

We would, but cannot meet. 

Here, where ovir happy chiklhood sped, 

'Till graver years drew on. 
And 'till, as varying fortunes led, 

We parted, one by one. 

Here— where amid primeval shades. 

But not of classic fame. 
Our sires, from England's blooming glades. 

To toil and trial came : — 

Here meet we — glad, a day's brief space 

To give to auld lang syne, — 
And o'er our fathers' resting-place, 

A o-arland green to twine. 

Those fathers' memory we bless. 

Oft as we hear the tale. 
Whose hands transformed a wilderness 

To this delightful vale. 

Yet, chiefly, that from them we gain. 

Through each successive age, 
A lineage without a stain. 

Our noblest heritage. 

Their glory this — a virtuous name ! 

Earth has no richer crown ; 
Spotless to us the honor came. 

Such let us pass it down. 

The President announced that he had before him letters from several gen- 
tlemen, who had been invited by the Committee, but were unable to attend. 
Want of time prevented the reading of these letters, which were from Rev. 
Josiah Peabody, of Erzroom, in Persia ; Hon. Daniel Breck, of Kentucky ; 
Rev. George Hood, of Southport, N. Y. ; Rev. Jonas Merriam, Barnard, Me. ; 
and N. Cleaveland Bradstreet, Rochester, N. Y., all natives of Topsfield. 
There were also letters from Judge Perkins and Judge White, of Salem, and 
the Rev. R. G. Dennis, of Grafton. 

The movements of the procession, and the exercises at the Hill and in the 
Pavilion, were enlivened by the performances of a good instrumental band 
from Salem. The vocal music was executed by a skilful choir under the ad- 
mirable direction of Mr. William R. Hubbard — once a Topsfield boy,— but now 
and long a successful chorister in Salem. 



XXXVIII APPENDIX. 

" The thanks of the assembly were cordially voted to the Committee of 
Arrangements' — (Messrs. Merriam, Cleaveland, Munday, Batchelder, Hood, and 
Towne) — and well did they deserve the tribute. The unqualified satisfaction 
expressed by all, whether citizens or strangers, in the entire proceedings of 
this delightful day, unmarred, as they were, by a single disturbance or failure, 
is the highest testimony which could be paid to the arrangements of the 
Committee, so well carried out by the chief Marshal and his aids." 

The final exercise of the occasion was an original song, finely sung by Mr. 
Whitmore, to the tune of " Auld Lang Syne." Many "sweet tears dimmed the 
eyes, unshed," while a hundred voices enthusiastically joined to swell the 
choral burden of that ever-touching air. 



SONG. 

I'll sing a song of other days, 

A tale of ancient time : 
Come, brothers all, the chorus raise, 

And lift a shout sublime. 
For auld lang syne, to-day. 

For auld lang syne, 
We've gathered and we'll chant a lay 

Of auld lang syne. 

Praise to our sires, the axe who swung, 

First on the wooded plain. 
While wide the forest round them rung, 

And hills replied again. 
For auld lang syne, come out. 

For auld lang syne. 
And celebrate the woodsmen stout. 

Of auld lang syne. 

In vain was bent the red man's bow, 

In vain his arrow sped. 
For soon repulsed, the savage foe 

To wilds remoter fled. 
For auld lang syne again. 

For auld lang syne, 
We sing those sturdy Englishmen 

Of auld lang syne. 

Long o'er the land which they regained 

From Nature's ruder sway. 
Peace, order, justice, freedom reigned, 

A bright and tranquil day. 
For auld lang syne once more, 

For auld lang syne, 
We con the pleasing legends o'er 

Of auld lang syne. 



APPENDIX. XXXIX 

Wlien dark Oppression, threat'ning. rose, 

And Might, usurping, grew, — 
Submission base, the choice, or blows, 

To arms our fathers flew. 
For auld lang syne, tliese strains. 

For auld lang syne. 
We swell to those who broke our chains. 

In auld lang syne. 

On Bunker's Hill of glorious name, 

And on the Hudson's side, 
And many a deathless field of fame. 

They poured their hearts' warm tide. 
For auld lang syne, we shed, 

For auld lang syne, 
Our tears above the mighty dead 

Of auld lang syne. 

Long may the rights those heroes won 

From Power's reluctant hand, 
Unmarred descend from sire to son. 

The glory of our land. 
For auld lang syne to-day, 

For auld lang syne. 
We've gathered and we've sung our lay 

Of auld lang syne. 

The sun had not yet 'stretched out all the hills," when this large and 
pleased assembly adjourned — for one hundred years : — to meet again in the 
persons of their posterity, and in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hun- 
dred and fifty. 



With strangely nimgled sensations of satisfaction and regret, I write these 
closing and parting words. My humble labor is finished. It has been the not 
unpleasing toil of many^an hour. It has sent me on a voyage of exploration — 
unwonted, indeed, but not, I trust, wholly fruitless — among the dim and distant 
regions of the past. To the people of my native town, I commit and commend 
the result. I venture the hope that not a few of thein will find, in the contem- 
plation of these old themes, a pleasure like that which I have experienced, — and 
that in some bosoms, they will revive, as they revive in mine, the bright remem- 
brances of youth : 

" While up the tide of time we turn our sail. 
To view the fairy haunts of long-lost hours." 



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